Shadowplay
by Eldr-Fire
Summary: Kakashi loses his Sharingan in the fight against Pain. What will this mean for the famed Copy ninja, and what effect will it have on an emerging power struggle in Konoha? KakaSaku. Manga spoilers. Hiatus, see profile.
1. Prologue

_Author's Note: This story is AR, or 'alternate reality'. It's not AU because it's still in the Naruto universe. But I started working on this a long time ago, so while parts are true to canon, many parts do diverge from it. As will be apparent right off the bat, some things are different. Early chapters will rehash certain bits from canon to show what I'm actually changing. If I am never clear enough about what is actually going on, please let me know and I will try to clarify. Once the story gets going, though, this shouldn't be a problem._

Thank you very much to everyone who helped me with this, particularly Nimblnymph. :) She helped me out a LOT. As for an update schedule, I can't make any promises. Same with chapter lengths. I guess for long KakaSaku stories my chapters are on the short side. xD So don't expect 15,000 words per chapter... however! This story will be much longer than Static.

Rated M for language, violence, and mature themes. (The jury's still out on whether or not there will be actual smut. I'm pretty young you know!)

* * *

Chains creaked as they shot up from the ground, circling the immobile Akatsuki leader. Pain's expression remained unchanged as they wrapped around him, forcing his arms against his body.

Seeing his opportunity, Kakashi leapt forward, silver chakra chirping wildly in his right hand. _So close… _He could see Pain's ringed eyes widening, an ethereal white color in the Chidori's light—

A heavy body dropped in front of his fingers. Pain's impassive face was replaced by a horrible smiling one, dripping blood and winking sluggishly at Kakashi. He could hear a sickening squelch as his hand plunged through its chest, breaking its top half off and sending it flying.

_Ah, damn…_ He hadn't counted on the other bodies stepping in. Narrowing his Sharingan, he told himself to stay focused on his goal. He channeled all of his love for his village into his final push forward, willing his burning fingers to grip this inhuman man's heart…

_Reach!_

But Pain was too quick for him. The sacrifice of his other body had given him enough time to get out of Kakashi's range, and as the copy ninja stumbled forward Pain sent him soaring backward. He watched with detached satisfaction as the Konoha shinobi flew into the rubble.

Kakashi blinked his eyes open, at first wondering if he had lost his vision. He was surrounded by shapeless, colorless objects, sticking out at odd angles. After a few seconds, his brain registered that he was almost completely covered in stone and wooden planks. All he could see was rubble…

Two sandaled feet stepped into view.

"You don't appear to be playing possum."

Kakashi's heart sank; after giving it his fullest ingenuity and might, he had fallen short. Pain still stood above the inert forms of his comrades, unharmed and in control.

_I didn't make it…_

Pain's eyes flickered around the scene before fixing again on Kakashi. "And you aren't another shadow clone," he said quietly. "You will die this time."

Kakashi watched through hooded eyes as Pain stepped cautiously forward. He saw a nail poking up in front of a painted toenail, and absurdly, he hoped that Pain would step on it. He attributed it to exhausted delirium; there was no way that the great Akatsuki leader would fall to a rusty nail.

Pain stopped. He bent forward, and it took Kakashi a few seconds to realize that he was taking the nail out of the board. As he straightened, he seemed to be weighing Kakashi, taking in his appearance and calculating. He raised his hand, aiming the nail at Kakashi.

"You will learn what true pain is."

Kakashi heard words; they may have been his, he did not know, the shock was speaking for him at this point. He only heard the calm finality of Pain's voice as the orange tip of the nail stared him in the face.

_True pain…?_

Slowed by fatigue, he didn't realize Pain's intentions until the cloaked man had released the nail from his fingers. It dawned on him with horror as the nail whistled through the air.

Pain seared through his eye like it only had once before; he felt the iron nail pierce his sensitive Sharingan, setting his nerves on fire. Blood spurted from the eye as a strangled gasp escaped Kakashi's throat. It felt a thousand times worse than when he had lost the eye the first time, but he was too tired even to scream.

With a thud, his head fell back onto a wooden plank. The silence unnerved him; he should have been able to hear distant battle sounds, or at least his killer's footsteps. Surely Pain wasn't wasting any time watching him die?

Groaning, Chouji blearily opened his eyes. He sat up slowly, trying to regain his surroundings.

Pain's gaze shot dangerously towards the waking ninja. He shifted his stance, readying himself for an attack; the boy was a sitting duck.

Hearing his teammate stir, Kakashi forced himself to make noise.

"Chouji…" he rasped.

Chouji snapped back into reality just in time to dodge a speeding kunai. Scrambling to his feet, he cried, "Kakashi-sensei!"

"Tsu… nade…" Kakashi croaked. He could feel the blood from his lips staining his mask.

Chouji's lip trembled; his gaze flickered towards his still father. "But I can't leave you—"

"Go!" Kakashi voice cracked with the urgent command.

He could hear Chouji running, but he couldn't summon the energy to watch him go. The pain in his eye hadn't subsided, and he could only hope that Pain would attend to more important matters.

_More important? What's more important than Copy Ninja Kakashi, huh?_

Kakashi released a quiet sigh. For being his biggest critic, Obito sure gave him a morale boost when he needed one. His chest heaved painfully; he could almost see Obito now. _I'm close… I'm coming, Obito, Rin, Sensei…_

His eye burned with a salty tear. The corners of his mouth turned down in a small frown. _Tears?_ It shouldn't have been possible, considering what state his eye was probably in…

_And it's not possible to get dust in your eyes when you're wearing goggles, right?_

Kakashi's mouth twitched in a smile.

_Quit crying, Obito, _he chided. _You've just got something in your eye… just a little bigger than before. And a little rustier…_

Miraculously he managed a wheezy chuckle at his own joke. Apparently Obito didn't think it was so funny; his eye continued to burn, the pain like poison racing through his veins. His head throbbed unpleasantly; he noticed that he hadn't quite gotten to the stage where he didn't feel anything. Because it hurt… like _hell._ He wondered if people made that up to make others feel better about dying.

_Where's my numb feeling?_ he wondered dully. On top of that his chest decided to pay him back for the little laugh it had allowed; every breath felt like it would be at last, or at least like it should have been. _Shoulda, coulda, woulda… _

_You're babbling._

_Shh. _Obito was right, though. There would be plenty of time for mulling over his many regrets once he reached the afterlife. Right now he supposed he should focus on breathing; his body had done him well before, and it probably deserved his best effort.

He sucked in a shallow, rattling breath.


	2. Chapter One: Scorched

Thanks as usual to Nimbl.

* * *

Letting a sigh of relief escape her lips, Sakura slumped back onto her knees. She wiped sweat from her brow and watched with satisfaction as Hinata shakily propped herself up.

"Thank you, Sakura…" Hinata's voice was weak but grateful. Sakura allowed a worried smile to flit across her face. The girl was talking, at least, but it would take a while for her to fully recover.

"… You really overdid it…" Sakura sighed, rubbing her hands on her knees.

A slick, wet sound alerted her to another presence. She turned her head to see one of Tsunade's slugs hurrying towards them, trailing slime along the large pieces of debris.

"Naruto has defeated the sixth Pain."

Shock shot down Sakura's spine. Hinata sat up fully beside her, staring at Katsuyu in shock.

Characteristically, Lee broke the awed silence. "Leave it to Naruto!" he chirped, punching his bandaged fist into the palm of his left hand.

Sakura bit her lip. "What is Naruto's condition?" she asked. If Pain had destroyed the village, what could he have done to Naruto? She leaned forward, her tone more pressing. "The extent of his injuries?!"

Impassive as always, Katsuyu let out a wet sigh. "He's fatigued… but otherwise okay."

It seemed as if the entire group sagged with relief. Her gaze flickered to the side; she saw Hinata tremble as she pushed her hair behind her ear. Sakura remembered how powerful Hinata had looked as she rushed to help the man she loved…

"And where is Naruto right now?" Gai's voice was unusually harsh. Even the flamboyant Green Beast of Konoha could, apparently, sober up when times were bad.

Katsuyu spoke frustratingly slowly. "He… is currently heading toward the mastermind's location." She sucked in a wet breath. "Alone."

Sakura's eyebrows flew to her hairline. _Idiot!_

"Master Gai!" Neji shouted, turning to face his former sensei. "We've got to head over there!"

"Got it!" Gai nodded gruffly.

Katsuyu penetrated their determined aura with a small slurp of breath. "Naruto himself does not require reinforcements," she said quietly.

Neji's voice rose in his desperation. "I don't care!" he shouted. "He's done enough on his own! He's weakened!"

Sakura agreed; what was Naruto thinking, running off on his own? His chakra store was remarkable, but it had its limits.

Neji stepped towards Katsuyu, his fists clenched in impatience at her lack of urgency. "Please lead us to Naruto!"

Noncommittally, Katsuyu sucked in another squelching breath of air. Neji let out a frustrated sigh, glancing back at Sakura. _"Please"_ his look seemed to say; he knew that out of any of them there, Sakura would have the best chance of appealing to Katsuyu.

Sakura stood, wobbling a little on her feet; healing Hinata had taken more out of her than she initially realized. Conscious of the eyes trained on her back, she walked over to Katusyu, crouching in front of the creature. Recognizing Sakura, Katsuyu wiggled her sensory tentacles in a friendly greeting.

Despite her list of worries, Sakura plastered a smile onto her face. When she spoke, her voice was kind but firm. "Katsuyu, I know you want to stay loyal to Naruto, but… you know Naruto, right?" Katsuyu nodded. "He's so impulsive, and very independent… he goes off on his own a lot even when he knows it's better to get help." Her mouth thinned, her smile fading into a set frown. "Please help us help him, Katsuyu. He needs us."

After a moment of hesitation, Katsuyu's head wobbled in a nod. "All right."

(…)

Inoichi watched in frustration as Naruto hopped away, disappearing into the darkness of the forest. How could Shikaku be so foolish as to let the boy run off? So what if he had defeated Pain? Surely the feat left him incredibly weak. What sense was there in letting him run off on his own? It seemed poor thanks for saving their village and proving himself a true hero.

Shikaku seemed to sense his indignation. "Let's put our faith in Naruto," he said sternly.

His ponytail whipping behind Inoichi as he rounded on Shikaku. "Don't you think it's more of a disservice to him this way?" he demanded. "He's a great warrior now — I _know _that — but he's still just a man! What if he dies?"

Shikaku scratched at his pointed beard. "He won't die."

Inoichi clenched his fists in anger. "I already watched people die today, Shikaku!" he said, his tone sharp in warning. "It could happen to this kid, too, right after we realized how great he could truly be!"

Unimpressed, Shikaku crossed his arms. "Nobody could defeat Pain," he said plainly. "It was impossible. And then this scrawny teenager came and blew him to pieces. How can you not think that there's not something special about him?"

Inoichi's brow twitched. "Of course I think it's incredible," he said, resentful that this was even a question. "But can you imagine how spent he must be?"

"He's got the Kyuubi locked inside of him," Shikaku drawled. "He's got much more power than we could ever imagine."

Inoichi let out an impatient huff. "On the outside chance this master Pain even sits down and talks like Naruto somehow suspects him to, don't you think the least we could do is provide back up?"

The Hyuuga standing behind him piped up, "That could make us seem too hostile."

Mirthlessly, Inoichi laughed. "That son of a bitch blew up our village and you're worried about _us _seeming _hostile_?"

"Naruto needs to be able to do this on his own, Inoichi," Shikaku growled.

"This isn't about his personal journey of self-discovery," Inoichi said, mockery slipping into his voice. "It's about eliminating a dangerous threat to Konoha and keeping one of our most important fighters alive!"

"But what if he's onto something?" Shikaku insisted. "That stuff he said about how killing off the enemy isn't the solution wasn't just hormones, Inoichi— it was some serious truth!"

Inoichi's lip curled in a snarl. "Be that as it may, we can't let Naruto just walk into the enemy's open arms like this. He's too precious to this village!"

Shikaku opened his mouth to reply, but the whip of air across his face cut him off. He had to grab onto the tree trunk to steady himself as a blur of green whizzed past him, followed by three younger shinobi.

"Master Neji!" The Hyuuga jumped from the crouch he had assumed. "Where are you going?"

"To help out Naruto!" Neji called over his shoulder.

"He doesn't want help!" Shikaku shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "He said he needs to do this alone!"

A blinding grin flashed towards him in response as a green clad youth shouted heartily back at him.

"We want to show Naruto that he doesn't have to be alone anymore!"

Lee's words rang sharply in Shikaku's ears. He didn't bother trying to avoid Inoichi's gaze; their eyes met, and Shikaku felt his stubbornness yielding to the logic of the situation.

"Fine," he conceded. "The kid deserves our support." With a nod towards Inoichi, he leapt forward, following Team Gai as they made their way towards the master Pain's hideout.

(…)

They were crouched low in the bushes, peering through the leaves to scan this new area. Neji had stopped them abruptly, training his Byakugan on the forest ahead of them. "That tree," he muttered.

Gai was constantly in awe of his student — _no, not anymore_ — teammate, Neji. To Gai, all of the trees clustered in this dark, dank forest were the same. But with the gift of his pale lavender eyes, Neji could pick out one particular tree that was different than all of the others.

"What is it, Neji?" Gai whispered. He poked his head forward, brushing Neji's cheeks with his own.

Neji's lip curled in a smirk. "It's ironic, really," he said.

Lee joined Neji on his right, squeezing the poor Hyuuga between himself and Gai. Neji felt his temple twitch in annoyance; their invasion of his personal space was a little too enthusiastic.

Oblivious, Lee stared forward with wide eyes. His voice was high and curious as he asked, "What's ironic, Neji?"

Restraining a sigh at the disrespect for his comfort, Neji narrowed his eyes at the tree standing tall above the others in front of him.

"It's made of paper."

"_Paper_?" Inoichi pushed forward, elbowing Lee out of the way in order to get a better look. He squinted at the unassuming tree, attempting to discern anything out of the ordinary about it.

"I told you it was ironic," Neji snorted.

"Ironic?" Lee frowned, rubbing a leaf between his fingers. "I do not understand…"

Shikaku coughed behind him. "Can you see them?"

The Hyuuga crouching next to Shikaku nodded. His voice hushed, he said, "Naruto is inside that tree."

Shikaku leaned forward, irritably pushing a thin branch out of his way. "Are there others?"

The man nodded. "Two others, I think," he said quietly. "One with unfamiliar but extremely powerful chakra, and the other…"

Neji snapped a twig. "Pain."

"What are they doing?" Inoichi hissed. "Is anyone attacking?"

Neji shook his head. "No," he said, gentle disbelief coloring his voice. "They're just… talking."

(…)

Naruto's stilled fist trembled in the darkness. He was feet from the man he hated most right now, but this was a different type of anger than he had felt before. When in the past his rage had led him into easy action, now it left him feeling confused and sorrowful. He didn't want to beat the anger away; rather, he wanted to find a simple solution that dissolved all of the horrible things that were tearing his heart to a bloody mess.

Quietly, he began to speak.

"Ero-sennin said he truly believed that the day would come when people will understand one another…" He swallowed. "… And live in harmony."

Nagato raised his chin condescendingly, looking down at Naruto with contempt. Below him, Naruto lowered his fist and gripped his thigh, hunched over in emotional agony.

"He was telling me… I was only half listening…" Normally he would start crying, but he felt too tired to summon the tears. "He said he would pass on his quest to me… but all I cared about was being his worthy disciple."

A bead of sweat rolled down his face. "Now… I finally understand what Ero-sennin was trying to say. Things just aren't that simple…"

Nagato appeared unmoved. "But that shouldn't change the fact that you cannot forgive me," he said coldly. "Human love isn't so cheap that you can just sweep it under the rug."

Straightening himself, Naruto fixed Nagato with a determined gaze. "Yeah… you're right about that."

Nagato leaned forward, his lip curling in an angry snarl. "Master Jiraiya's words reflect his antiquated idealist philosophy. Reality is too different."

Closing his eyes, Nagato continued, "I thought you said you would take me down… and that _you'd _bring peace to this shinobi world." The last three words rang with contempt. "That's what you say… but all you want is to exact your own personal revenge! If that is your justice, then that's fine."

He exhaled sharply through his nostrils.

"… You are not a god."

Naruto bit his lip. The arrogance was leaking heavily through Nagato's words, and it was clearly becoming more difficult for him to control his anger.

"Now that you see reality," he shouted, "can you truly believe Master Jiraiya's ridiculous words?!"

Cocking his head to the side, Naruto said, "When I found out you had all been Ero-sennin's disciples, I wanted to ask you…"

"What?" Some of Nagato's anger had dissipated to be replaced by confusion as he frowned at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes were full of sadness. "How you all, who used to be _his _students, could end up like this… I don't know anything about you guys…" He raised his head, looking directly into Nagato's ringed eye. "I want to hear your stories, and then I'll give you my _final response_."

His eye widening almost imperceptibly, Nagato regarded Naruto carefully. The young Konoha shinobi seemed sincere about his need for information rather than confrontation. "Very well…" he said slowly. "I'll tell you about _pain_."

Konan turned sharply towards Nagato. "Nagato, what a waste of time!" she said angrily. "Why don't you just…"

"Wait, Konan." Her voice faltered immediately with his command. Facing Naruto again, Nagato said curiously, "I want to hear _his response_…"

Resigning herself, Konan looked dismally to the side. Naruto, on the other hand, was giving Nagato his full attention. Nagato lowered his head for a moment to gather his thoughts, and then he began to speak.

(…)

Zetsu emerged, materializing in his full form as the tree branch creaked with his weight. His black and red robes flapped ominously in the wind as he watched Konan's tree sway innocently.

"They're not attacking…" His voice was thoughtful and quiet. The other voice interrupted his contemplation, saying wickedly, "We're gonna kill 'em for this one, right?"

"Be quiet," Zetsu scolded. "I'm trying to think about this."

"What's there to think about?" Zetsu demanded. "_Our leader_ over there is more worried about telling his life story than capturing the Jinchuuriki!"

"What's that, Zetsu-san?" The cheerful voice seemed out of place in this quiet forest. Turning to his left, Zetsu saw the projection of Tobi sitting on the branch, swinging his legs happily. Rainbow colors swirled in his shimmering image, making him seem more like a zippy child than an ancient shinobi warrior.

Zetsu cleared his throat. "There's been a… hitch."

"A hitch?" Tobi cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Yes." Zetsu nodded his head, which was a rather impressive move. It showered little seeds all over Tobi, who swatted at them impatiently.

"What, then?" His tone was saccharine as ever, but Zetsu knew better than to think that Tobi was pleased. He could never let himself forget that underneath the orange mask there was a dark and dangerous man.

For this reason, he was very relieved that he wasn't the one who was striking up a chat with the chronically evasive Kyuubi.

"It's Nagato and Konan," he said. He could feel a smirk tugging at one half of his mouth, but he forced it down. Madara didn't like seeing condescension in his subordinates for fear that it could one day be directed towards him.

Tobi directed his gaze to the paper tree. "Yes, I can see that that tree is full of Konan's chakra. It was always pretty chakra, wasn't it, Zetsu-san?"

"Er… I can't say I noticed," Zetsu said honestly.

Throwing back his head, Tobi laughed, "Oh of course Zetsu-san. Sorry about that one. Now, what's this about Nagato and Konan anyway? I'm sorry Zetsu-san, but today is a very busy day for me."

"Of course," Zetsu said smoothly. He kept wanting to add on either "Tobi" or "Madara", but he never knew how to address this man. Especially when he insisted on assuming this silly character…

"I'm wai—ting!" Tobi sang.

Restraining a sigh, Zetsu said, "The Jinchuuriki Naruto—"

"Of course," Tobi muttered.

"— took out Pain's main body, and I believe that the rest of the bodies are also dead."

"My my."

"Currently, the Kyuubi is inside that tree. He has not attacked them, though, and neither of them are making a move to fight."

"No fighting?" Tobi looked up sharply at Zetsu, the swiftness of the movement contradicting his light tone. "What are they _doing _in there, then?"

Zetsu blinked.

"Talking."

"Talking?" Tobi repeated, incredulity creeping into his voice. "About what?"

Shrugging, Zetsu said, "Nagato's telling him about his past, I think. Peace, war, pain, that sort of thing…" He shifted uncomfortably. "Nothing I found particularly interesting."

Tobi rose to his feet, dusting off his robes. Cheerily, he said, "Well then, those two are just liabilities now, aren't they, Zetsu-san?"

Zetsu's face split into a wide grin. "I understand," he said, melting slowly back into the tree branch.

With a satisfied nod, Tobi, too, disappeared.

(…)

Nagato's head hung low with the pain of memory.

"He told me that this world is all about never-ending war," he said heavily. "He promised to rule this world and make it stop." He let out a deep sigh. "That's… when Yahiko's dream became my ow—"

A kunai whizzed through the air and landed between him and Naruto, and his words were clipped off by the _boom _of an exploding tag.

Debris from Nagato's machine flew everywhere. Naruto was blown backwards; he fell to the ground hard on his elbow, shielding his eyes from the blast. Three more tags flew down, and Naruto scrambled to get out of the way, managing to escape the worst of the explosions.

Cautiously Naruto cracked open an eye, and he was struck by the site that greeted him. Fire leapt everywhere, licking the trunk and burning the tree from the inside out. _That's right, it's made of paper…_ The crackling sound was deafening, but he thought he could hear muffled shouts from outside.

Through the flames, he saw Konan holding up the fallen Nagato. Nagato was coughing up something dark and wet, and Konan seemed to have the same liquid trickling down from underneath her hair. Even amidst all of the ash he could smell the blood.

"You're not getting away from us this time, Nine-tails!" A long, gnarled root shot out at Naruto. Caught unawares, he was unable to stop it from wrapping around him, lifting him up by the neck. He scrabbled at it with his nails, but it wouldn't loosen. With quickly dawning horror, he realized that his struggles to break free would be futile; after all that had happened today and every other day of his life, he was going to die _here_, strangled by a plant and eaten by the flames—

"Dynamic Entry!"

Out of the flames came two green legs, complete with furry orange legwarmers, thrusting into the tall leaves flanking Zetsu's head. The impact was hard enough to make Zetsu relinquish his grip on Naruto, who fell to the floor, rubbing his neck and gasping.

The fast tapping of feet alerted Naruto to additional presences; Tenten and Neji emerged from the rising wall of flames. Tenten ran forward to send kunai flying at Zetsu, but Neji stopped to help Naruto up. Naruto looked up at him in surprise, but Neji merely smirked. He ran to join in the battle, using his Byakugan to deflect a flurry of sharp leaves.

His mouth agape, Naruto watched as his fellow shinobi began to take on Zetsu, weaving between his leafy tentacles. He thought he recognized Shikaku and Inoichi— hadn't he told them not to come?

Dust flew up in clouds as Lee braced himself with his feet, skidding to a halt in front of Naruto. He bent forward, slipping the weights out from beneath his legwarmers.

"Fuzzy brows!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes momentarily drawn from the fight. "What are you—?"

Lee grinned up at him.

"You didn't think we'd let you do this alone, did you?"

Sounds from the fight reached Konan's ears, and she could feel the heat from the flames on her back, but none of it seemed real. Only Nagato held her focus as she felt him dying in her arms.

Frantically, she grasped one of the snapped tubes from his leg and tried to jam it back into the machine, but the frayed cables wouldn't connect and she threw it aside. She raised her palms over him and tried to summon healing chakra to her hands, but it was no use. Konan was no medic, and she couldn't control her chakra well enough to send it through Nagato's unusually complicated system.

"Hakkeshou Kaiten!"

A blast of air sent her shooting backwards. Still holding Nagato's arm, she inadvertently dragged him with her.

She looked up and saw that more Konoha shinobi seemed to have joined the fight. Zetsu's roots were flying everywhere, but the little blurs dodged them with surprising skill, and it was clear to Konan that he was losing.

Something stirred beside her. Her head snapped towards Nagato; her hand shaking, she lovingly pushed his hair back. She looked past the hollowed cheeks and sallow skin into the eyes of the hungry little boy she had fed one day, a lifetime ago...

"K-Konan…" he sputtered. Her eyes widened. "You're…" He coughed violently.

Her heart skipped a beat. "What?" she asked urgently.

The cough subsided, but his voice was very hoarse.

"You're… on fire."

Konan jumped and looked at her sleeve; sure enough, it was alight, and for the first time she registered the pain. Gritting her teeth, she forced the pain away for now. She might be on fire, but Nagato was _dying_. At the thought, her heart burned worse than any flame.

She started trying to stand, but she felt Nagato's grip tight on her hand. Raised in an awkward half-crouch, she look down at him. He was smiling.

"Let me fix it for you," he said quietly.

As his eyelids drooped and his grip slackened, rain began to fall.

"Rasengan!" Sparks danced in the sphere of swirling wind as Naruto pushed it into Zetsu's back, sending him flying into the wall of flames. Panting, Naruto watched as the flames began to consume Zetsu's leafy body.

Strangely, he felt something wet. "Huh?" He looked up to see rain falling from the burning canopy.

"It's raining…"

A flurry of movement caught his eye. He turned to see thousands of battered, charred pieces of paper wrapping around Nagato's prone body. They bound him like a mummy, lifting him up into the air. He sagged with the weight of the water and began to peel, but sleeves of black and red grabbed hold of him. Securing him in a tight embrace, they stole him away into the darkness.

Naruto had been watching in almost a trance, but an unfamiliar voice snapped him out of it. "Uzumaki-san, we have to hurry back to Konoha!" (It occurred to him in passing that it was very strange to be referred to with such a respectful name.)

He looked around; the rain had left only a light mist behind, and not all of the fire had been put out. Zetsu's corpse lay smoking in his peripheral vision. Fatigue made his surroundings swim before him, and he felt himself swaying. As he slid into unconsciousness, only one thought was floating sluggishly across his mind: _He's dead… too._

(…)

Madara flickered into existence with a small zipping noise. He could see his reflection shimmering a variety of rainbow colors in the cracked window as he walked slowly forward, his sandals light on the wooden floor.

"Two of them are dead," he said coldly. He came to a halt in front of the wall, addressing it as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Nagato and Zetsu. Konan" — contempt cradled the word as it rolled poisonously off his tongue — "is MIA with Nagato's body."

"And Zetsu?" Kisame asked.

Madara blinked. "Burned."

Roaring laughter ripped from Kisame's throat. His voice was a cacophony to Madara's pounding headache. "It's not funny," he snapped.

"Sorry," Kisame said, still chuckling. He didn't sound particularly apologetic. "But that's just too funny… Personally I'd suggest some _aloe vera_…"

Madara clicked his tongue once.

"We're leaving."

Grinning, Kisame sheathed his bloody sword. His footsteps were heavy on the floorboards as he walked away from the dead bodies of the two council elders.


	3. Chapter Two: Dead

Sakura wound the bandage tightly around the man's leg, tying the ends into a firm double knot. She waved over a passing nurse; they had salvaged supplies from the fallen hospital and were helping medics out wherever they could.

"I need a stretcher," Sakura grunted.

The nurse nodded vigorously. "Right away!" She jogged away to search for one of the makeshift stretchers people had been cobbling together.

As she waited, Sakura rubbed the man's side idly. Without a job to focus on, her mind wandered to those inevitable, dark places. So far there had been no news of Naruto; she knew that Neji, Lee, Tenten, and Gai had all gone after him, but other than that she had no idea what had happened to them. She had healed Hinata herself, and she had seen Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji around. But there had been no sign of Shino, Kiba, Kurenai, or Kakashi-sensei…

"Here's your stretcher!" Reappearing at her side, the nurse was holding a stretcher against her chest so that only her legs were visible behind it. With a little "oomf!" she let it fall to the ground; its rusty parts rattled.

Sakura smiled briefly. "Thanks. Do you think you can help me…?"

Eager to assist, the nurse helped Sakura lift the wounded man and ease him gently onto the stretcher. Once he was secure enough, the nurse hailed another of her peers and the two carried him away. Sakura couldn't spare the time to watch them leave; wiping sweat from her brow, she looked for another slug to mark an injured survivor.

It didn't take long to find one; there was certainly no shortage of victims. She knelt beside an injured chuunin, and after acknowledging the slug guarding him with a distracted nod, she quickly began to scan him for any serious injuries. She was relieved to find that he didn't have any pressing wounds; there were several gashes, but none of them were very deep.

Her ministrations to him were interrupted by the blare of a megaphone.

"Citizens of Konoha." Sakura was not used to hearing the way the voice was magnified; she found it quite unpleasant. "This is Danzou-sama speaking."

Sakura's eyes narrowed in dislike. _What an arrogant bastard, calling himself "sama"._

"While we have sustained a devastating blow, thankfully, we are well-equipped to handle an attack of this scale." _That_ was news to Sakura. ROOT had anticipated the entire village being blown up? "I urge everyone to retreat underground for safety and provisions. Thank you for your cooperation." With a terrible screeching noise, he shut the megaphone off.

Sakura looked around her. Already, people were rushing gratefully to where members of ROOT were guiding them; however, she knew that as a medic-nin and proud practicer of Team 7's philosophy, it was her duty to make sure that no survivors in need of medical assistance were left behind.

A snatch of yellow and purple caught her attention; she spotted Ino jogging past her.

"Ino!" The blonde girl stopped running and turned to look at her. Sakura could see the tear tracks cutting through the layer of dirt and dust on Ino's cheeks.

"Come on, Sakura!" Ino called. "Danzou said we should go underground!"

"And leave the wounded behind?" Ino opened her mouth, but Sakura kept talking. "Some of the medics should stay behind and search! Lady Tsunade's slugs mark the ones that are still alive!" She stood up, brushing some of the dirt off her skirt. "This guy's almost done— why don't you patch him up for me?" Without waiting for a response, she ran off to find the next person.

There weren't so many survivors around here. Sakura saw plenty of bodies, but no white and blue slugs pointing her towards the live ones. She wished she could go and help out the ones who had fallen, but her priority was healing those who still had a chance. That was teamwork, after all.

But remembering the teamwork she was taught in Team 7 reminded her of the man who taught her that in the first place. Suddenly, she felt panic gripping her heart; she knew where her other two teammates were, or at least where they weren't, but she had no idea what had become of Kakashi-sensei.

"Sakura!"

She nearly yelped, but although the voice belonged to a man, it wasn't Kakashi. Her shoulders slumping, she saw Chouji jog over to her.

"Hey, Chouji." She smiled weakly. She was glad to see he was all right. "Why aren't you heading underground?"

"I could ask you the same question," Chouji chuckled, but immediately his lips turned down in a frown. "I want to help you," he said seriously. "I can't heal, but I can lift big things off people." Seeming to think she'd be offended, he quickly raised his hands up defensively. "I mean, I know you're super strong, but I thought you would need to preserve your strength."

Sakura beamed, warmed by his earnestness. "Of course, Chouji, that would be a big help."

Together the two of them jogged through the debris, having to slow down frequently to step over jagged pieces of rock or wood.

"Real mess, this," Chouji muttered.

Sakura was about to respond, but a blue and white tail caught her eye. "There!" Ignoring the protruding pieces of rubble, she sped towards the survivor.

Katsuyu let out a relieved breath. "I'm glad you're here," she said, her voice soft and uninflected as usual. "I didn't think anyone would find him in time."

Kneeling down beside the man, Sakura saw that his right arm and shoulder were trapped underneath a chunk of what looked like a boulder. Chouji's presence replaced Katsuyu's beside her as the slug disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sakura began to scan the man for life-threatening injuries; finding none, she nodded at Chouji.

"It's just his arm," she explained. "If you could lift that rock…?"

Chouji obliged, grunting as he heaved the large rock off of the man. The man let out a gasp of relief; he tried instinctively to move his fingers, but his face only contorted in pain.

"You don't want to try that," Sakura gently admonished. She decided that she couldn't afford to spare any chakra on a man who wasn't about to die, so she just started wrapping his arm up.

"Keep your eye out for a nurse, Chouji."

"Yosh!" Chouji squinted out at the landscape, trying to focus not on how forsaken it looked and instead on spotting a white nurse's uniform. Only a minute later he saw one and patted Sakura on the shoulder.

"Over there," he pointed.

Sakura whistled loudly at the distant woman. The nurse stopped to look at them, and Sakura poked Chouji's leg.

"Could you call her over here?" She was already pretty exhausted and didn't want to wear out her voice on top of everything.

Chouji smiled. "Okay, but you'd better cover your ears."

Sakura did as she was told, but Chouji's call for the nurse was still deafening. The nurse made her way over as quickly as possible.

"It's just his arm and his shoulder," Sakura told her as she reached them. "He doesn't need a stretcher, if you could carry him." Done binding his arm, Sakura moved sweaty locks of hair out of the man's forehead.

"You're going to be all right," she promised.

The man smiled gratefully. Satisfied, Sakura stood up and stretched her arms as Chouji helped the woman pick up the wounded man.

"Feeling okay?" Chouji wiped his forehead with the back of his arm, looking at Sakura with a little bit of concern. _She's really pushing herself…_

Sakura yawned something incomprehensible. Chouji assumed it was positive until he saw her face rearrange itself in a frown.

"Sakura, are you okay?"

Biting her lip, Sakura kicked idly at a rock. She mumbled something Chouji couldn't hear.

"Um… what?" He gave her a small, encouraging smile. "I couldn't hear you, Sakura."

"I said I'm worried about Kakashi-sensei," she said more forcefully. "I don't know where he is…"

Chouij's face instantly brightened. "I do!"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "_What?_ Where is he?"

Sticking his tongue out in thought, Chouji pointed a meaty finger to his right. "I saw my dad coming from there earlier," he said. "Kakashi-sensei was fighting Pain with us."

"_Pain_?" Everyone knew Naruto had fought him, but Kakashi-sensei had too? A cold feeling started flooding inside her chest. If Naruto was the one who finished him off… that meant Kakashi had fought him first, and…

She started running in the direction Chouji had indicated, not caring that she was getting her legs nicked on all manners of sharp objects. She didn't stop until the saw the three slugs nursing a still body, surrounded by rubble.

"What's his status?" She struggled to keep her voice steady as she crouched beside them. The slugs were all over him, blocking her access, but she could tell by the bloodstained silver hair that it was Kakashi.

Bizarrely, one of the slugs had a dark nail sticking out of her mouth. Spittle flew as she talked around it. "He's dangerously close to death." The slug's voice was light, and Sakura saw with alarm that she was starting to fade. It wasn't the normal disappearance of a summon once its job was done; Katsuyu's image was actually dissolving.

"Katsuyu…"

The slugs disappeared altogether. Without letting herself comprehend what this meant, Sakura directed her attention to Kakashi.

His head hung low over the rubble; he was submerged from at least the waist down. Gently she tipped his head back. Cradling the back of his head in her left hand, she made her right glow with cool chakra and started scanning what she could. His head was bleeding; she skipped down to his neck and saw that, thankfully, his esophagus didn't seem to be damaged. And… he was breathing.

She was tempted to let the relief flood through her, but she could tell by the severity of his many injuries that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Chouji, he's stuck…"

Chouji bent his knees and, harnessing his full strength, started shifting the huge blocks of rubble out of the way. Sakura winced as she heard a crunch in Kakashi's leg; Chouji looked down fearfully.

"Did I…?"

"Just keep going, Chouji."

It took several grueling minutes, but Chouji managed to free Kakashi's trapped lower body. Sakura quickly scanned it, and there were some more broken bones and a serious gash where a pipe had apparently been cutting into him.

"How is he?" Chouji sounded nervous. "He saved my life, you know…"

"He's saved lots of lives, Chouji," Sakura said. She grit her teeth together as she started to work on stitching together the gash in his leg.

Chouji only nodded. Sakura hoped he wasn't feeling guilty, but she really couldn't worry about that now. Kakashi was losing blood, and after making sure the leg wound wouldn't kill him, she moved right back up to his skull. There was an indentation in the back; it didn't look serious, but she knew that its benignity wouldn't last long if she didn't tend to it quickly.

After that, he was stable enough to be carried, at least. Besides checking for vital spots and broken bones, she hadn't looked very carefully at his wounds. His nervous system, keirakukei, and blood circulatory system would have to wait until she could give him a more thorough examination.

Together they hoisted him up, and Chouji held him piggyback as they started jogging to the underground haven. Night was already starting to fall and as Sakura and Chouji ran across the ripped up landscape, she saw that it was deserted.

"Be careful not to jostle him too much," Sakura said with concern, shooting Chouji a sideways glance. She only hoped that being carried like that wouldn't make Kakashi's injuries any worse. She remembered the last time she had seen someone carry Kakashi like that; he had been weak from the Mangekyo, so Gai had enthusiastically offered to carry him. Back then the sight of Kakashi in such a weakened position had been comical (if a little disturbing), but today it only frightened her.

Following the direction they had seen people fleeing earlier, they found that their path started moving downwards. They soon reached a shadowed black gate; Sakura wouldn't have been able to see the hidden entryway were it not for the ROOT operatives standing guard outside it.

"All right, these two are probably the last ones…" The voices of the men in masks faded quickly as Sakura raced down the dark passageway; it was too narrow for she and Chouji to travel abreast, so she moved behind him. Her eyes darted around constantly as they made their way down the steeply sloping underground passageway. While she preferred taking the rear so that she could keep an eye on Kakashi, it was frustrating not being able to say what lay head.

Water dripped eerily from the dirt ceiling. Despite her focused urgency, Sakura couldn't repress a shiver at the thought that _this_ was the ROOT headquarters.

They reached level ground, coming to a halt as they took in their new surroundings. It was a huge mess of activity, with crying children and frazzled medics running everywhere, while anxious shinobi waited impatiently for news of comrades. Members of ROOT were stationed throughout the yawning cavern, but they appeared to be doing very little to reign in the chaos.

A man emerged from the crowd and swiftly approached them; with a mask in place it took Sakura a moment to recognize the ROOT member, but she'd know those abs anywhere.

"Sai! I need a place to start healing Kakashi-sensei!" Her words spilled out in one quick breath.

Wordlessly, he turned and quickly led them through a maze of dank passageways. Sakura paid little heed to the narrow paths looping in and out of each other; she only kept her eyes trained on Kakashi, who bounced gently with every heavy step Chouji took.

Sai slowed his pace to turn sharply into a room on the right. Sakura and Chouji followed him into what appeared to be a makeshift operating room, complete with rusty hospital bed and an assortment of clunky machines.

As Chouji laid Kakashi down gently, Sai finally spoke. "While ROOT does have its own medical facility," he explained a little apologetically, "lack of funding makes it rather outdated."

"I can deal with that," she said absently. She bent over Kakashi, noting with annoyance that she didn't have a hairband before pushing such a trivial thought aside.

First she removed his torn vest. His loose jounin shirt had to be slit open with a kunai, but she left his skin-tight undershirt intact. She would remove it soon, but right now she needed to get a better look at his injuries. She summoned chakra with her sore hands and began to scan his body. There were still many little injuries, but the most pressing was his chakra and blood depletion.

Carefully, she cut a thin line through his shirt and peeled it off from the middle, exposing the flesh wounds underneath. He didn't have many, at least, but the ones she couldn't see were always the most worrisome anyway.

While before her movements had been quick and efficient, her hand hesitated when it came to the tip of his mask. Memories of cooking up plans to remove it flitted through her mind, but his breathing was shallow enough without this cotton fabric, sticky with blood and serving as a barrier. Without another moment wasted, she pulled it down. It bunched at his neck and she cut through it, slipping it out from underneath his chin.

Morbidly, she joked to herself that maybe this didn't even count; his face was so drenched in blood it was impossible to make out specific features anyway. She frowned, chasing the thought away; she had healed his head wound, but much of the blood on his face was still fresh. She moved her hands slowly from his chin up, scanning his head carefully for any—

Her hands froze, hovering over his closed left eye.

"It's gone," she breathed.

Chouji had been leaning quietly against the wall, but he looked up at this. "Huh?"

Sai peered over the body, removing his porcelain mask with a pale, gloved hand.

"It appears that Hatake-san's Sharingan eye is severely damaged." His face blank as ever, he cocked his head at Sakura. "It doesn't seem fatal, though. You should probably tend to his other wounds."

"Y-yes…" Sakura answered shakily. Stiffening her resolve, she resumed her examination, mending things that put him in immediate danger. It was difficult work, especially after all of the people she had already healed in the past few hours. It took all of her concentration, which was a good thing because she really couldn't dwell on anything right now— not her missing friends or Kakashi's ruined eye.

"I don't have enough hands!" Her voice cracked with frustration. Her eyes were focused on her patient, but she could hear Chouji bustling away in the background. Chouji's absence made her more aware of the phantom still in the room.

"Don't just stand there," she snapped irritably. "Help me out! This is the head of Team Kakashi on the table here."

Sai obediently helped her hook Kakashi up to the different machines. Chouji returned soon with three more medics.

"Haruno-san!" They all rushed quickly to her side, taking note of the stats flickering on the fuzzy monitors. Sakura hastily explained his condition to them, and they all threw themselves into the work, trying to take some off the pressure off Sakura. Sakura was grateful for their help, but she still insisted on being in charge.

(…)

Sai put a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"You need to take a break," he said quietly.

It wasn't the first time she had been told this in the past two and a half hours. "He needs my help." By now the words sounded worn on her tongue; she had been giving Sai the same response every time.

Sai's grip did not loosen. "The other medics will take care of him while you rest," he said.

Sakura bit her lip; his major wounds had been healed, or at least patched up. Their main task right now was replenishing his lost blood. So far they were doing pretty well, and it seemed that he would be in good hands while she rested.

She shot Kakashi a nervous glance. Upon noticing that his hair looked to be a quite pretty shade of purple, she realized that she really _did _need to rest.

"Fine," she conceded grudgingly. She reluctantly allowed Sai to guide her. Once again, she didn't watch the pattern of the tunnels he led her through; she only noticed her own fatigue and Sai's hand steadily leading her.

She became dimly aware of the outlines of several bunk beds, but as soon as Sai left her side, she merely wandered forwards until she bumped into a random bed. Collapsing into it, she let the blessed numbness overwhelm her.

(…)

She woke up groggily. No light filtered through her closed eyelids, and she felt annoyance flicker across her face.

_Daaaammiiittt… I only made it through to the middle of the night?_

As she adjusted to her surroundings more, she noticed the sounds of many people outside this room, and she remembered that she was underground. Disgruntled, she sat up and stretched, yawning as he hopped off the bed.

Her stomach rumbled loudly. She looked at the direction of the sounds. There were bound to be a lot of hungry people here, so some of the ones outside could probably lead her to food…

Her aching hands immediately made her think of Kakashi, and her first thought was to find him— but as she looked around the dark room, she realized that she had no idea how to locate him from here. But going to find food would give her the opportunity to find out about everyone else. Besides, Kakashi was getting close to stability when she left him, so he would undoubtedly survive a little while longer without her.

Leaving the bunk room, she entered a passageway lit by flickering torches mounted on the walls. She could see people moving at the end of the passageway, so she jogged down it hurriedly.

She emerged into a wide cavern, and she wondered if it was the one she had been in yesterday. It was certainly just as chaotic; groups of people herded everywhere, demanding food and water. The disorganization seriously surprised Sakura; wasn't ROOT all about efficiency?

A familiar ponytail of black spikes caught her eye. Elbowing her way through a group of civilian teenagers, she made her way over to Shikamaru. He was standing in front of an empty dirt wall, one hand shoved into his pocket. The other hung awkwardly over a wooden crutch.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura joined him at his right side.

It took him a few moments to register her presence. "Oh. Hey, Sakura."

Her stomach answered him with a loud growl. A smirk tugged at his lips and he turned to look at her.

Embarrassed, she twisted the bottom of her gritty shirt in her equally dirty fingers. "Uh… where can I find some food around here?"

(…)

Crumbs rained down into her lap as Sakura munched hungrily on the piece of toast. If Sakura hadn't known better, she wouldn't have been able to distinguish the room they were in now from her own. Shikamaru's bunk room was identical to hers, except for the few people still sleeping or conversing with friends in hushed tones on their own mattresses. Sakura sat cross-legged facing Shiakamaru's profile; he sat on the edge of his bed, his feet touching the floor. He had to bow his head to keep it from hitting the bunk above.

Between bites, Sakura kept stealing glances at him. He reflected them impassively, but she knew that he knew that she wanted to know if he knew…

Shikamaru sighed. "This really is troublesome…" Rather than annoyed, he just sounded drained. "Some people are alive and some people are dead."

Sakura swallowed hard around her bite of toast. "How is Kurenai?"

"Rattled, but safe." Sakura could tell that he was incredibly relieved. Giving out that piece of good news seemed to break the ice, for Shikamaru continued to speak. "All of _us_ are safe," he told her. "The whole Rookie nine plus team Gai managed to scrape through this one."

Hope leapt through Sakura. "So Naruto—?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Naruto and all of his back-up made it back alive."

"_Really_?!" She perked up instantly, but in her jubilation she hit her head on the top bunk. Dizzy but undeterred, she shushed Shikamaru's dark laughter.

"Sorry… and _yes, really_, they're all gonna be okay— and apparently they took down some Akatsuki with them."

Sakura leaned forward, rubbing at her head. It was only a light bump; she could tell that it was nothing serious. "What's Naruto's condition?" she asked. She was much more relaxed than the last time she had asked that question.

"Exhausted," Shikamaru said. "And he's a little bruised, but you know Naruto." Pride snuck into Shikamaru's tone, and it sounded to Sakura as if he were bragging. "That's nothing for him. He'll probably be bouncing around tomorrow."

"They're going to need a bigger cave!" Sakura laughed. Chuckling, Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement.

Despite their joking, Sakura could sense that they were rapidly approaching the tipping point, at which their dying laughter would plummet into a weighty silence. Unwilling to bear that, Sakura abruptly hopped off the bed.

"Can I see Naruto?"

Shikamaru nodded and started leading her silently through the maze. She was keeping her thoughts fiercely trained on the need to see that Naruto was safe with her own eyes. Even as she could tell by the familiar smells that they had entered the medical area, she didn't let her attention stray (even though the formaldehyde tempted her to think about some things rather post-medical…).

They arrived at Naruto's room; unlike Kakashi's private operating room, Naruto was in a much larger area with multiple beds. However, it was not difficult to pick out Naruto's bright blonde hair amongst the patients; she breathed with relief when she saw his chest rising and falling evenly.

The medic sitting beside him smiled at Sakura over his clipboard. "Naruto-san is going to be perfectly fine," he told her. "Nothing more than a little sore."

"And a big ego," Shikamaru muttered. Sakura walked to the side of Naruto's bed, squeezing his hand.

"Are you sure he didn't do anything too dangerous?"

Shaking his head, the medic assured her, "Not that I'm aware of."

Sakura frowned. "Maybe Tsunade or Shizune should look after him just in case…"

Her words trailed off into the clammy silence that had descended upon the room. A panic she had been fighting since she saw the slugs fade started flooding icily into her heart, making her blood run cold.

She whipped her head around to look wildly at Shikamaru, seeking contradiction in his dull black eyes, but all she found there was a melancholy confirmation.

Sakura's entire body shook as she squeezed Naruto's hand tightly. Shikamaru sighed heavily and took a step forward. He hadn't wanted to be the bearer of bad news, but it looked like he didn't have a choice now. "I'm sorry, Sakura—"

"Take me to Kakashi-sensei."

His tight frown slackened. "Wha…?"

She ripped her hand away from Naruto's and faced Shikamaru. Tears were flowing from her eyes and her lip was trembling, but he saw fiery determination in her eyes.

(…)

Sakura strode into the makeshift hospital room. Something seemed off about the room this time around; there were more medics than there should have been at this point, and the machines were beeping far too erratically for Sakura's liking.

"What are the updates?" She assumed a position next to one medic who was taking a small break from his work to tie back his unruly brown hair. He looked down at Sakura, his expression foreboding.

"He's worse than we thought." Sakura swallowed, her heart dipping low into her stomach.

"Vitals?" She immediately bent over her former teacher, bathing his body in a green glow as she scanned his heart and lungs. They seemed to be doing all right…

"No, it's his Sharingan." This took Sakura by surprise; she had assumed that the Sharingan was out of the picture by now. "So far it's all we can do to stop it from eating all of his chakra."

Her brow furrowed in confusion, Sakura moved to her right so that she was in line with Kakashi's head. Much of the blood had been mopped from his face, but there was still fresh blood trickling from his crusty left eye.

Cautiously, she moved her finger towards the eyelid. There was an ugly hole in it; Sakura wondered what had pierced it. Gently, she pinched the edge of the lid and started lifting it up.

A spark of hot chakra made her fingers fly to her mouth with the pain. Kakashi's body bucked forward with the jolt; the machines he was attached to rattled as the other medics struggled to restrain him.

Sakura's burnt finger left her mouth with a small _pop_. "He needs more sedatives!" she barked. Obediently, the medics sent more of the numbing fluid into Kakashi's system; his body stilled, save for the harsh rise and fall of his bandaged chest. Once he was secure, Sakura started probing her chakra through him like the other medics couldn't.

It was really a nightmare inside his body. The eye was shot, but the Sharingan was still attached to his body. Even though it had been rendered useless, it couldn't shut itself off, and it was sucking him dry to keep itself alive. The work was horribly exhausting, but Sakura couldn't let up; she had better chakra control than anyone, so she had the best chance of keeping his Sharingan at bay until she found a way to deactivate it without annihilating his nervous system. So she didn't have a choice, really; when she could spare herself a thought she simply told herself that she had to concentrate on keeping people alive before she could worry about the dead ones.

(…)

Eight hours and a soldier pill later, Sakura was still bent over Kakashi's eye, pumping chakra into it and trying to keep his chakra replenished. It was particularly challenging because while the resistance of Kakashi's natural chakra was a typical case of chakra's xenophobia, the Sharingan had an independent chakra which was trying not only to sap Kakashi's chakra, but to convert her chakra into instantly expended fuel. Right now the battle was caught in a stalemate, but even with the soldier pill Sakura could feel that she couldn't keep this up forever. The Sharingan was able to steal enough of her healing chakra to keep itself functioning. The more she fed it, the longer it held on.

Sakura strained her neck to look at one of her assistants. "I need a Hyuuga in here!" she called hoarsely. The medic scurried away in search of what she needed.

Several minutes later, Hinata rushed in. _I wonder if she's been at Naruto's bedside?_

"How can I help, Sakura?" The girl's usually timid voice was stronger now.

Sakura nodded at Kakashi below her. "His Sharingan's a goner, but it's starving and if we don't do something to stop it it's going to eat him up." It struck her that out of context that would sound comical, but she was in no mood for laughter now. "I want you to stopper his tenketsu— I know his chakra won't be able to get through, but hopefully the Sharingan won't be able to bypass them, either."

Hinata's eyes widened. "That's dangerous, Sakura," she said nervously. "Shutting down more of his body when he's already critical—"

"It's either this or let this thing devour him!" Sakura said angrily. Hinata's expression smoothed into one of firm resolve as she brought her hands up in the appropriate seal.

"Byakugan," she muttered. She looked at Sakura, the veins in her eyes pulsing with chakra. "Where do you want me to close it off?"

Sakura pointed to the Sharingan. "All around here," she explained. "Right now it's mostly contained there, so if we cut that area off from the rest of his body, hopefully we can corner it." Hinata carefully started poking Kakashi where Sakura had instructed, working harmoniously with Sakura to control the flows of his two starkly contrasting chakras. It was not difficult to tell the difference between Kakashi's chakra and the Sharingan's; Kakashi's chakra was much weaker, which Sakura supposed could only be suspected after years of being drained by the Sharingan's dominant power.

Sakura allowed herself a small moment to admire how far Hinata had advanced. She remembered her fight with Neji during the Chuunin Exams; only Neji was able to pinpoint the tenketsu. Now Hinata was doing it with practiced ease, and Sakura felt a flutter of pride for her fellow kunoichi.

With painful precision, they locked up the chakra points around his eye, trapping the Sharingan inside its own little bundle of chakra. While Hinata kept her finger at the tenketsu to ensure that no chakra escaped, Sakura deployed her chakra to protect the rest of Kakashi's nervous system. She also had to make sure that the rest of his body was weathering it well.

Because the Sharingan's new circle of self-destruction was _vicious._ Sakura could feel Kakashi's skin burning as the Sharingan's chakra whirred violently, ricocheting off the blocked chakra points and ravaging the frayed pieces of the trapped end of the optic nerve.

As the chakra rapidly used itself up, its final act of desperation was to start tearing at the eyeball itself. Kakashi's pain receptors screamed with agony as the chakra ripped through the pierced eye, scarring it irreversibly from the inside. Finally, in a flare of fiery chakra, the Sharingan died.


	4. Chapter Three: Limbo

_AN: Agh, I really wish this chapter hadn't taken so long, but it got accidentally deleted! I was able to recover most of it, but then it took a while going back and forth between some people... Anyway, it's here now, and hopefully they'll come more quickly in the future. Thanks to Nimbl and Saph. :)_

* * *

"And then I died."

Kakashi stared into the fire. It filled the silence, crackling warmly in the absolute darkness threatening to embrace him.

Sakumo exhaled slowly. "I see…" he murmured. "Seems you had your fair share of trouble too, eh…"

"Yeah…" Some truths had been summarized or exaggerated, while others Kakashi had kept to himself, but he thought he had done a pretty good job of representing his life. A lot happened in twenty years…

His father quietly interrupted his thoughts. He was gazing forward wearily, the ghost of a rueful smile flitting across his face in the firelight. "However… what a shame that both you and I would die such early deaths…"

Kakashi hung his head. He wasn't quite dead yet — he thought that this might be some sort of limbo — but he was getting there, and fast. Death was coming closer with each passing moment, and he wasn't sure what to make of it. He had always been prepared for death; there were even times when he had wished for it. But now that the time had come, he felt… unfulfilled. Like something was missing. Like there was still more he hadn't done. It was an ill that could not be eased, no matter how soothing the fire and how bizarrely comforting the presence of his father.

Sakumo gripped his knees, his eyes boring into the fire. "Though not as early as your mother…"

Kakashi could hear the tenderness, the longing in his father's voice. He took a deep breath, head bowed with thought.

"No matter what the end result was, Father, you did your best." Sakumo's clothing rustled as he turned to regard his son with surprise, but Kakashi chose not to look. "I can see that now and understand you…" His voice shook a little with the repressed emotions of twenty years resurfacing. "You, who violated all rules in order to save everyone…"

He swallowed. "I'm proud to be your son, now."

The fire burned bright, illuminating Sakumo's face. Even without looking, Kakashi could picture it perfectly. He had committed that face to memory— first in adoration, and then in animosity. Temptation nipped at him until he chanced a glance sideways; a bewildered smile was cautiously curving his father's lips. Their eyes met for a brief second before Kakashi's flitted away, sheepishly returning to the fire.

"Thank you," Sakumo whispered.

He stood up, smoothing his hands along the sides of his thighs. It was one of the small habits Kakashi had all but forgotten. He looked up at his father curiously.

"Are we going?" He felt like a small boy.

Sakumo smiled down at his son. His eyes were warm; Kakashi could not remember seeing his father so peaceful. "Not 'we', Kakashi."

Kakashi's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Aren't I coming with you?"

Sakumo's footsteps were silent as he walked over to Kakashi, crouching down in front of him so that their eyes were level.

"I'm glad I got to talk to you." Despite the solemnity of his tone, he was still smiling. "Thank you for forgiving me… now I can move on in peace." He sighed, looking to the side. A flicker of anxiety agitated his peaceful aura. "And finally see your mother…"

Kakashi's black eye — the one he had inherited from his father — widened. "But what about…?"

Sakumo patted him on the shoulder. "Seems it was too soon for you to come here," he said gruffly. Grunting, he rose to his feet, his fingers slipping from Kakashi's shoulder. He fixed Kakashi with a final, appraising stare, scrutinizing his grown son as if committing his image to memory. Then he turned away.

"There must be something you're still meant to do."

Kakashi watched his father walk away; his back grew smaller and smaller with each step, bitten by shadows and swallowed by darkness. Part of Kakashi desperately wanted to follow him, to trail after him like he had when he was young…

An acute pain shot through Kakashi's left eye. He gasped as it seared through his body, scorching his insides and boiling his blood with white hot pain.

He shakily forced himself to his feet — he had nowhere to go, but he ached with the need to get away from this pain — but staggered, falling to his hands and knees. Desperately he crawled forward, screaming from the agony that gnawed at his nerves. He dug his nails into the dirt as he felt the heat from the bonfire wash over him, and he was seized with the overwhelming desire to throw himself into it. Nothing could be worse than this torture, it was driving him mad with pain, and with no hesitation he thrust himself face first into the flames.

He was falling. There was no space, but there was the pain, and then the distance from it that grew. The fire inside of him dulled as he fell, leaving him with numb embers as he landed hard.

The forced interruption of inertia was unnaturally soundless. Instead, a shout echoed inside of him. It reverberated through his soul, fading, fading, fading, ever closer to silence…

He felt himself starting to disappear. This ethereal body was dissolving and rematerializing into something concrete, solid. The pain from before, which had been dulled to a low hum, was building again in a thick crescendo. It spread through him, shaping his limbs and pulling him into reality.

(…)

Kakashi could immediately tell that something was missing.

This incomplete feeling was at the same time foreign and familiar. Maybe things had been like this before? It was different, both stronger and weaker than what he was used to, and it left him confused and uncomfortable. The familiarity was faint… he found himself wanting it to go away.

He was hurting all over, and he connected it with this feeling of loss. But for the life of him, he couldn't place it. Frustration overwhelmed him: _What was wrong with him?_

In the midst of this unsettling state of unease, a calm presence seemed to slip through. It soothed him. He didn't understand where it came from, but it helped him, and he reached out to its cool intimacy. It too seemed familiar, but instead of anxiety it gave him security. He knew that he was safe.

Still, he couldn't shake the empty feeling. He felt like there was a voice he wasn't going to hear anymore, like he had lost a very old friend.

(…)

The faint glow from the machines broke the darkness. Extinguished, the torch did not ease the harsh, eerie light the monitors cast. The sleeping figure on the bed was bathed in this unearthly green, and shadows stretched and shrank as he slowly took in breath. Bagged nourishment reflected the light, shimmering in its translucent container as it slowly flowed into his body.

While he was in the spotlight of this alien light, the shadows fell heavily across the floor. Light weakened as it reached the edges of the dank room, throwing itself halfheartedly against the uneven walls. Highlighted only faintly by the fuzzy glow was a sleeping woman, her chin resting against her neck as she slouched in her simple metal chair.

Sakura awoke with a start. Her head snapped up, her eyes trying to focus enough to scan the room. She could have sworn that she heard something… but only the buzz of machinery hummed monotonously in her ear.

She looked over at the unconscious Kakashi, but he was not stirring. He was only breathing, and the machines were only emitting all of the steady noises they should have been. Still watching him, she slumped down in the chair. Out of habit, she started evaluating his condition. His response to the pain while she was killing the Sharingan yesterday showed that he was healthy enough to be reacting to stimuli, at least…

Her eyelids drooped, still heavy with exhaustion. She knew she had done well, but any accomplishment she felt was dwarfed by her depressing reality.

_Tsunade… Shizune…_ These two women had been her mentors, the two most powerful and inspirational women she had ever met. And they were more than just figureheads… While they had always been her superiors in rank, they had always welcomed her as a friend, niece, sister, daughter…

She shuddered with a sob. She pressed her fingers to her mouth as two fat tears squeezed out of her wide, shining eyes. They ran down her dirty cheeks, paving the way for a torrent of salty followers. Her cries were loud and wrenching; the whole room seemed to groan with the heavy sorrow, and her body bent over with the weight of her grief.

…_!_

Sakura jerked her head up. Once again, she could have _sworn _that she heard a noise.

She looked over at Kakashi's bed— he wasn't moving. Confused, she started to rationalize what she heard. Her eyes darted distractedly around the room.

"It was probably nothing," she muttered to herself. The words were raspy as they crawled out of her raw throat. "It was probably just—"

This time, she saw the pain flicker across his face as he groaned. His fingers twitched, and a bead of sweat rolled down his face, cast into sharp relief by the glow of the machines. Heaving an almighty sniffle, she stood and went over to his side.

Absently, she brushed up a few strands of sticky, silver hair, revealing the bandaged forehead beneath. She had never done something so affectionate to her sensei, but she felt an inexplicable attachment to him now. After all of the times he had saved her on missions, she had finally saved _him_, and she felt like they were closer for it.

She did a quick, habitual check of his keirakukei; his chakra seemed to be gaining strength. She had healed him before, but feeling him without the Sharingan was just so… different. As long as she had known him, the eye had always been a part of him; she wondered what he was going to be like without it.

_Probably still the same old sensei._ She frowned. Whenever something had been ailing him in the past, he had done a spectacular job of keeping it to himself. But now that she was the one who had been with him through this harrowing battle — the one who had saved him from his Sharingan — she felt like this time, she _wanted _to know how he was doing. She _wanted _him to open up and tell her what it was like being just Hatake Kakashi again.

Because if there was one thing the losses she just suffered were showing her, it was that the bonds with her loved ones were precious, and she was going to do everything in her power to help and be helped by her teammates.

The door creaked open. Sakura was instantly alert as she watched a dark figure step quietly into the room. Shrouded in shadows, he pulled something out of a pocket.

There was a crackle, and warm light filled the room. Sakura relaxed as she recognized the bag of art supplies strapped to the man's back. He was wearing another bag, too, but it was slung over his far shoulder and she couldn't make out its details.

"You scared me, Sai," she told him.

He did not respond right away. Holding the match in his right hand, he used the other to remove the spent torch from its bracket. He then fished around in the hidden shoulder bag and retrieved a new torch. It was the same crude model, constructed out of twigs and bristles. He lit it with the touch of a match before securing it in its new home on the wall.

Sakura watched him with interest. "Wouldn't it be easier to use chakra?" she asked.

Sai gave her a blank look.

"I find the process of manually lighting fires curiously invigorating."

Sakura smiled. _Okay, Sai is a little creepy, but he's one of my teammates, too._

(…)

The harsh _clack_ of his cane on the wooden bridge constantly threw off the beat of his steady steps, adding in an irregular third note to the otherwise monotonous walk. In contrast, the robes that fell to his feet shuffled noiselessly along, gliding over the slats of wood as he slowly crossed the chasm below him.

Beneath the bridge that held him lay a maze of wooden bridges, descending deeper and deeper into the darkness. Underground, there were no windows to light the endless cavern. Staircases hugged the dirt walls, winding downwards to be engulfed by the dark hole.

He came to the intersection in the middle of the vertical tunnel, suspended by large poles that shot up towards the ground. A cloaked figure stood waiting for him, completely still. He cleared his throat.

"Well?"

Having been acknowledged, the operative slid his hood down, revealing a decorated porcelain mask. "Danzou-sama," he said curtly. Danzou observed impassively as the shinobi inclined his head respectfully. "Communications are being carefully monitored."

"How carefully?" Danzou continued walking. "Which communications?"

The operative assumed a spot on Danzou's left, maintaining a respectful distance from his leader. As they walked, he made sure never to pass Danzou by even an inch. To do so would display disrespect, even insubordination. As an operative of ROOT, "he" was _never _first.

When he spoke, his words were completely devoid of inflection. "Internally, we have been able to contain the news well. Any villages near enough to witness the explosion have been silenced."

They passed through a dark entryway flanked by sturdy stone pillars. Only the flickering light of the mounted torches lit the passageway.

"Good." Danzou's cane echoed as it rhythmically pounded the ground. "The daimyou?"

"Remains unaware." They passed an open room where several hooded figures were gathered around a table. The room was lit by candlelight and featured a large map, on which a few pinned jewels pulsed with chakra. Danzou spared it only a glance before continuing, never breaking in his slow but steady pace.

"And externally?"

"None of the other great nations have learned of it, as far as our intelligence has gathered," the operative replied.

"What about the minor countries?" Danzou glanced sharply at the operative. "That's just as important."

"Of course, Danzou-sama," the man said smoothly. "The news has not left our borders."

"What about Ame?"

The operative paused before answering, and the sharp question rang in the silence.

"Unconfirmed."

The cane came down hard. Danzou kept walking.

"Explain," he ordered coldly. Mechanically, the operative obeyed.

"They appear to have completely shut off communications with us," he answered. "There are now no countries with open communications with Ame."

Danzou let out a noise of annoyance.

"Women…"

The operative did not respond.

Danzou's sigh grated against his sore throat. "What about the recovery of the dead?"

"Burned."

"Burned," Danzou repeated quietly.

He was silent, and the operative took this as permission to keep talking. "Their ashes are being stored in labeled urns."

Danzou nodded gruffly in approval.

"What about the situation upstairs?"

"Everyone has been underground for the past few days. They have been provided with medical care and basic supplies."

Danzou nodded. "What about food? Sanitation?"

"Food is available," said the operative. "However, we cannot spare many agents for the regulation of its distribution. The same goes for sanitation…"

Danzou shrugged. "They're shinobi," he said, his voice callous with disinterest. "They fend for themselves."

As if remembering something, his eye slid sharply to needle the operative.

"They're not being coddled, are they?"

At the operative's shake of the head, Danzou smiled in satisfaction.

"Good," he said harshly. "They have to understand that this isn't going to be as forgiving as the Princess's regime."

He came to a halt with a final, subdued _clack_ of the cane. They had reached a fork in the road. "Tell them to keep an eye out on civilians, though," he warned the operative. "Other than that, have them proceed as usual. As long as they aren't killing each other, there's no need for us to intervene."

He felt the flicker of chakra in the edge of his reach, signifying the arrival of his visitor.

"After all, we have more important things to deal with."

Checking once over his shoulder, Danzou resumed his walk. The operative dutifully waited behind, watching Danzou until he had been swallowed by the darkness.

(…)

The dirt floor was worn by all of the recent activity, and Kurenai's sandals scraped against it as she waddled slowly down the hallway. Varying degrees of foul smells made her wrinkle her nose against them: most of them she was used to and could ignore, but the shadowy hint of rotting flesh made her stomach plummet. A hand fluttered over it protectively; rubbing her belly soothingly and pinching her nose, she made her way down the hospital wing.

She counted the openings on her right until she reached the number _(twenty-five)_ that Shikamaru had told her. Her walk curved into a nice, wide turn as she entered the room— any sudden movements and the baby started kicking. While at times the extra proof of her baby's existence warmed her heart, in the evenings she welcomed a little peace and quiet.

As she entered the room, ten dirty toes peeked at her through brass bars. Following them from the foot of the bed up, she was greeted by an unfortunately familiar sight: Kakashi, asleep in a hospital bed. Her gaze floated over his bare legs and bandaged chest… the poor man didn't even have a _blanket._

Her roaming eyes stopped when they reached his chin. She hesitated. Her stomach twisted nervously as she recalled Shikamaru's earlier words.

"_The Sharingan's dead."_

Kurenai hadn't known Kakashi when his eyes matched. She had only been introduced to him several years ago, and by then he was the Kakashi everyone knew him as— the Copycat Ninja, wielder of the Sharingan eye.

A young face turned towards her, framed by unkempt pink hair. The dull purple bruises of exhaustion circled her eyes, and tear tracks glittered through the grime coating her face. She was seated on Kakashi's left, licking the remains of some plain yogurt off a spoon; the empty cup was balanced on top of one of Kakashi's machines.

"Hi Kurenai."

Kurenai smiled, letting some of the tension seep out of her shoulders. Sakura's smile was warm, and the smell wasn't so bad in here.

Another chair scraped across the dirt floor, and Kurenai watched affectionately as Shikamaru nodded gruffly at her. "You can sit here," he said, slipping a crutch underneath his arm as he hoisted himself up.

Kurenai took the offered seat with as much grace as possible for a heavily pregnant kunoichi. Shikamaru assumed a spot to the side of the entryway, leaning against the wall and favoring his good leg. He almost managed to look completely uninterested in his surroundings… were it not for the way he kept stealing concerned glances at Kurenai.

Her crimson gaze slid to Kakashi. She wished she wasn't so used to seeing him like this. Through Asuma, she had become familiar with the soap opera of Kakashi's relationship with hospitals.

"How is he doing?" she sighed. She was stubbornly holding her gaze at his chest, unwilling to look up any further at his face and the eye there— well, it wouldn't be there, actually. That was sort of the point.

"Good," Sakura answered. Her optimism profoundly amazed Kurenai, who felt weary with everything that had happened. "We're still giving him chakra-replenishing medicine." She sucked on the spoon thoughtfully. "He lost a lot during our fight against his Sharingan."

Kurenai nodded. Shikamaru had already explained to her about how Kakashi's eye had nearly _killed _him. Kurenai found it heartbreakingly ironic that Obito's final gift had almost been the death of his friend.

Oblivious to the melancholy this brought Kurenai, Sakura continued, "But once we take out his Sharingan, it'll only be a matter of time until he's all right again."

Waves of black hair shook as Kurenai looked up at Sakura in surprise.

"You mean… it's still in there?"

"Well…" Sakura stretched it out in hesitation. She cast her gaze on Kakashi, and Kurenai followed it. His left eye was bound in heavy bandages, wrapping high up his forehead. His bangs, dank with sweat, flopped haphazardly across his face.

"There's not much left of it," she said quietly.

Shikamaru cut the silence short. "Sakura and another medic are going to try and extract the tissue later," he added.

Kurenai looked at Sakura: her green eyes were still trained on Kakashi. "Aren't you tired?" she asked kindly.

Sakura's expression was blank. "I took a military rations pellet."

Kurenai leaned forward, her locks of dirty hair brushing against Kakashi's bandaged chest. "For healing?" she asked, doubt clouding her pretty features. "Isn't that…?"

"Dangerous?" Sakura shrugged, pulling her gaze away from Kakashi to address Kurenai. "It was actually probably the best thing to do here… Otherwise there's no way I would have had to the energy to hold off the Sharingan for so long." A little smile danced across her face. "It could've _eaten _him."

Relaxing into the chair, Kurenai smiled. She could just picture Kakashi's reaction to the notion of his eye chewing him up.

Sakura yawned, stretching her arms above her head. Little tears of fatigue bunched at the corners of her eyes. Rubbing at them, she explained, "But with the soldier pill, it's not as if I _have _to go without sleep for three days. That's just the absolute maximum." She frowned at the spoon. "And as a medic, that wouldn't be good for me at all."

She grabbed her neck, wincing in discomfort. "But just because I took a pill doesn't mean I'm not sore… these chairs are _terrible_!"

"I agree," Kurenai laughed. She could definitely attest to the lack of comfort in this "haven". Already, Shino and Kiba had been forced to sleep together against Akamaru, which Shino spent ample time sulking about.

"Sakura," she said suddenly, "have you been to see Naruto?"

Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her chair, averting her eyes as she shrugged. "I've been there twice now."

Kurenai wondered what was wrong with her. It couldn't have been Naruto's condition; Hinata had reported that he was recovering at a remarkable rate, which was little surprise.

Scratching absently at her neck, Sakura's gaze fell to Kakashi. "I didn't want to interrupt them," she said quietly, and Kurenai instantly understood. She had not been to visit Naruto herself, but according to Shikamaru, he and Hinata were inseparable. She was constantly at his bedside, clutching his hand as he talked of adventure and of peace. It wasn't difficult for Kurenai to imagine that it would be pretty awkward to be a third wheel— especially a third wheel Naruto had spent years proclaiming his love for.

Sakura pulled her gaze away from Kakashi. She looked up at Kurenai, cocking her head to the side. "Are you getting assistance, as far as your nutrition goes?" Her eyes flickered momentarily down to Kurenai's protruding stomach.

Shikamaru clipped Kurenai off with a decidedly bitter tone. "Those bastards aren't doing _shit_," he drawled. "All they do is stand around in their cloaks and blink at people."

A smile of disbelief tugged at Sakura's lips, but Shikamaru didn't appear to be joking. Her face falling in a frown, she looked between the two others in the room. "Really?"

Kurenai nodded; all mirth had evaporated. "It's awful out there," she said. "The hospital wing here is probably the best regulated out of everything… you're lucky that this is where you've been concentrated."

"Everywhere else is a complete mess," Shikamaru sighed. "Like I said, ROOT doesn't do anything. There's hardly any of them out there… maybe ten at most. And that's not even counting Sai."

Sakura's frown deepened. "I saw him just this morning," she relayed to them. "He was relighting the torches…"

"Then that makes him their pioneer in philanthropy." Shikamaru moved to run a hand through his ponytail, but the hair was too matted and knotted to get his fingers through. He spat dispiritedly on the ground.

Kurenai blinked and said to Sakura, "Everywhere is filthy. Nobody can get the right hygiene…" She sniffed the air self-consciously, giving Sakura a slightly apologetic smile. "Bathing certainly hasn't been an option."

She could tell by Sakura's vigorous nod that Sakura was feeling just as dirty as she was. Probably more so, seeing as she had been putting so much energy into healing Kakashi.

"What about food?" Sakura looked sharply at Shikamaru. "You got us that toast the other day, and you brought me this yogurt…"

Shikamaru shrugged, folding his arms loosely across his chest. "Some people took food with them when they came into hiding. You can find little groups of people who have it, but… nothing is being given out."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow.

"Nothing?" she repeated. She sounded unimpressed.

"Well," Kurenai supplied, "if you ask them they'll tell you where the people with food are, but…" She shrugged.

Sakura leaned back in the chair, pressing the spoon against her chin thoughtfully. "That's no good," she murmured.

A growl rumbled up from Kurenai's stomach. The sound twisted into a low whine, and she patted her bump a little self-consciously.

Shikamaru smiled, a little wary. "That little guy's always hungry, isn't he?"

Kurenai laughed gently. As she stood, she steadied herself with a hand on the chair back. Slipping the crutch under his arm, Shikamaru was almost immediately by her side.

"I'll go with," he offered. His face shone with eagerness to help, endearingly breaking through his generally indifferent exterior.

As they left, Kurenai threw a glance over her shoulder at Sakura, giving her a parting smile, but Sakura did not seem to notice. The concave curve of the spoon was hiding her lips as she watched Kakashi.

(…)

Sakura's fingertips brushed across her knees as she pulled them up from her toes. It was the last of her stretches; the fact that she had been confined to this hospital room for the past few days did not mean she had to stop being conscious of her flexibility.

As she righted herself, the other medic she had been expecting walked in. She was probably older than Kakashi and Sakura combined. Some washcloths were slung over her shoulder and a pail of water sloshed against her hip. Her bun of blonde hair was lightened with patches of gray, and wrinkles lined her face.

"Thanks for coming," Sakura said. She was smiling faintly, but the mood in the room was quite serious. After all, the task they were here to complete was no laughing matter. "I'm Haruno Sakura."

The woman nodded in recognition. "Akimoto Fujiko," she supplied. Her voice was gravelly with age. Sakura stepped out of her way to allow her easier access to Kakashi. She bent over his unconscious body, peering at the wrappings around his eye.

Sakura watched her observations curiously, wondering what new information this woman would yield. "So you've worked with his Sharingan before?"

Fujiko nodded. She roughly pushed up a fistful of Kakashi's bangs, revealing more bandages underneath. There were no bloodstains soaking through them.

"I was there when he first came in with it," she said. "Came in straight from Grass Country. Impromptu surgery on the battlefield, performed by the team medic."

On-field transplant? Sakura was impressed. "That must have been some medic."

Fujiko did not seem to have heard her. Joints cracked in her back as she straightened up, addressing Sakura with a hard frown.

"Unfortunately, I don't have much for you. When we first looked at the eye, the nerves were very enflamed; they had been forcibly connected by chakra, and his body was working pretty hard to adjust."

Sakura was disappointed but undeterred. "Did the medic tell you about the actual transplant? Maybe that could help…"

Her voice trailed off as Fumiko shook her head, stray wisps of hair waving with the motion. "The medic was unable to provide many details. We just know that it was a hasty job and his body barely accommodated the addition." She glanced sideways at Kakashi's chest, which strained at the bandages with every expansion of breath. He had bled a lot, and they only had a limited supply, so the most recent wrappings were a bit of a tight fit. "Nobody's ever done a removal like this, at least not in our knowledge."

Sakura shook her head. She, too, looked at Kakashi, taking in the heavy bindings around his eye. "Especially not with an eye this damaged." She sighed; it was disheartening to get nothing when she had expected helpful insights, but it wasn't Fujiko's fault, and she needed an extra set of hands.

Fujiko stepped out of Sakura's way, bending over to wet a washcloth as Sakura moved to unwrap his eye bandages. She peeled them away, briskly at first, but as the pale paper dwindled she grew more and more reluctant to remove it completely. She shuddered to think what gory sight awaited her; she had seen the eye already, of course, had stared at it for hours, but to see the lifeless Sharingan, the _dead_ eye, would be… unpleasant.

Eventually there was nothing left to do but look at the thing; the final wrapping was discarded to reveal the ugly hole through his eyelid. She would probably be able to heal that scar, but her stomach still churned at the mangled mess. Nauseating as that was, however, the full extent of the damage was not apparent until she pushed up the eyelid. As a medic, Sakura was used to things that were hard to stomach, but it was different knowing that what used to be her sensei's fearsome weapon was now this torn glob of red jelly.

Sakura had already decided to use chakra to extract the tissue; it was preferable over the rudimentary tools available to her here. Her chakra was more precise than any piece of metal, so with Fujiko's help she started scooping out the dead tissue.

His eye was already disconnected from the rest of him. The Sharingan's chakra had fried the nerve endings there, and as she toiled over the careful scraping of the socket, it became clear to Sakura that there was no chance that he could ever have another eye here. The vengeful chakra of the Sharingan had left the inside of his chakra physically scarred— Sakura was quietly amazed by the destructive power of just the chakra itself.

There was not much to salvage, so they were not at it very long. Once the tissue had been removed, Sakura used chakra to clean up the socket a little so that it would not be so… disfigured. She sealed the ends of the optical nerve so that no chakra would get stuck at the frayed edge, and she knitted some skin together. She didn't want to leave him with such a nasty mess to deal with; after smoothing over some of the socket, she closed the hole in his eyelid. She had to heal the beginning of an infection, which was probably a result of whatever had pierced his eye.

Her joints popped as she leaned back, pushing her bangs up out of her face. She released a long, winded breath through chapped lips.

"Congratulations," Fujiko said, "on all your hard work." She tossed Sakura the wet washcloth, which Sakura caught with a _smack_ against her palm. "I've never seen an eye so difficult to deal with."

Sakura pressed the washcloth against her face. It was not cold, and really just pushed the sweat around, but it was refreshing nonetheless. As she peeled it away from her eyes to smile at Fujiko, she noticed the little droplets of water gathering in her eyelids. Blinking them away, she said, "Thank you for your help." Her lips moved against the wet cloth, and she briefly wondered if this was what it felt like to be Kakashi-sensei, all the time.

Fujiko left. Wearily, Sakura bent down to dip the limp cloth into the bucket of water at her feet. She wrung extra water out of it and stood, spilling a few droplets of water down her front. Considering how filthy her clothes were, it would surely do no harm.

She leaned over Kakashi and started wiping at his face, trying to be gentle around the sensitive eyelid. Leaving a sheen of water mixed with sweat on his pale skin, she dropped the washcloth into the bucket. Water splashed onto the dry dirt floor, and Sakura walked over to the corner of the room. Sai had very helpfully assembled a bag of supplies for her, and she rummaged through it to find a few more fresh bandages. Returning to his side, she started slowly wrapping them around his head again.

When she had finished, she pulled up her usual chair. Instead of assuming her customary position on his left, however, she dragged the chair around to his right. She sank slowly onto the chair, watching until she couldn't see his bandages peeking over his profile before settling low into the chair.

From this angle, he looked like just a normal guy— no scar, no missing eye. It occurred to her that after this, she would not be able to see him as just Kakashi-sensei anymore. Right now, the person in front of her hardly even looked like him. This barefaced man was practically a stranger.

She sighed. Folding her arms on the sheets, she rested her head in the crook of her elbow; she could feel his arm against her hair. Fatigue crept through her body, trickling into every limb. She nestled her forehead farther into her arm. She could feel the wetness in her eyes, but she was too tired to put any weight behind it, and her exhaustion pulled her into sleep.


	5. Chapter Four: The Crying Girl

For this one I thank Lulu for reading it over for me and helping me. :) And of course in general Nimbl should be thanked for her help. It has been around a year since the idea for this story was first implanted, so I am glad that I am finally getting it done. Most of my online friends are doing nanowrimo but I'm not, so hopefully while their FFN updates may be a wee bit more sparse, I can keep you entertained. :)

* * *

These past few days, Sakura had seldom left Kakashi's room, and only ever accompanied by someone else; she knew her way around the "hospital wing", but that was about it. The din in the cavernous main room curled her fingers into fists. Swollen vessels throbbed against her skull, filling every passageway in her head with a thick wall of pain. She tried to see over all of the heads, but she was not very tall and could hardly even see where she was going.

The many passageways in the Cave, as it had been most affectionately dubbed, were unmarked. They ran in random directions, with a complete lack of clues distinguishing one area from the next. As ROOT headquarters, the patternless structure made sense for security reasons, but it was doing no favors for everyone else.

But really… she didn't expect signs to be posted, but this noisy crowd of people pushing around didn't seem necessary. Hadn't it been a couple of days since they had gotten there? And Danzou had said that they were _prepared_ for this. If ROOT couldn't even establish some semblance of organization down here, why were they trusted with high-risk missions? And why would they be trusted, in the future, with getting Konoha out of this mess? She was sure that, knowing Danzou, he'd already be brewing plans to take control of Konoha, but if this situation were any judge…

The crowd's general flow caused her to nearly trip over something. She stopped and looked down to see a little girl sitting there. People passed around them like water around a rock as Sakura crouched down.

The little girl was crying, hugging her scrapped knees to her chest. Her skin and clothes were covered in a thin layer of filth, and her blond hair fell dirty and knotted onto her shoulders.

She turned her face up; Sakura caught a glimpse of dull blue eyes through the girl's tangled bangs.

"What's wrong?" Sakura's voice was gentle, but the girl only buried her face in her knees again. Her small frame trembled with her suppressed sobs. Sakura reached out a hand and, soothingly, began to rub the girl's shoulder. She could feel a shift beneath her hand, and a voice choked out between heavy breaths.

"I'm lost."

Sakura sat down on the girl's left, pulling the girl's tiny body to her side.

"I'm Sakura," she said kindly. "What's your name?"

The girl stumbled over her answer. Sakura patted her shoulder encouragingly. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

A slimy sniffle preceded the girl's answer. "M… my name is Hana…"

Hana shifted her head, capturing Sakura with the helpless gaze of one blue eye; the other was still hidden behind her curtain of grimy hair. "Do you know where my mommy is?"

Ignoring the twinge of her heartstrings, Sakura squeezed the girl in a sideways hug. "I'll help you find her."

She helped Hana to her feet. Slipping Hana's hand into her own, she started walking forward. Honestly, she had no idea where to go, but a lot of people were moving in this direction.

Hana dragged behind, rubbing at her eyes. Sakura was patient; she actually welcomed the delay, because she had no idea how to go about finding this girl's mother.

"Where's the last place you saw your mom?" she asked.

Hana's eyes were glued to the ground. "Outside."

Inwardly, Sakura bristled with indignation. This girl had been left to her own devices, wandering along for the past few _days_?

Hana's tired voice stunted Sakura's growing ire. "Um, maybe it would help if you knew Mommy's name?"

Sakura smiled down at her. "Yep, that would probably help a lot," she laughed.

Hana turned her chin up proudly. "My mommy's name is Fujimoto Aiko."

"Thanks." Sakura nodded at her, but she didn't recognize the name.

"Um..."

Biting her lip, she looked around at the mass of people moving hastily past her. Chuunin like Shikamaru had been helpful so far, but she thought that to help her with this, she probably needed a jounin. She decided that the best thing to do was to find an adult she knew and see if he or she had heard of Hana's mother.

Hana's stomach growled loudly. She looked up hungrily at Sakura, who squeezed her hand consolingly. "We'll go get some food, first."

Hana nodded, a tiny smile cracking her morose mask. Sakura racked her brain, trying to remember which way Shikamaru had taken her to get food.

The sound of wood on the dirt made her automatically turn, and her shoulders relaxed with relief. Yamato was limping; his leg seemed to be hurt, but rather than a conventional crutch, he was supported by one that seemed to be growing out of his right arm.

Sakura waved. He noticed and smiled at her, his wide eyes warm in recognition. To save him from the indignity of hobbling, she took Hana over to him.

He smiled benignly down at Hana. "And whom do we have here?"

Sakura gently swung Hana's hand. After shooting Sakura a doe-eyed glance for reassurance, Hana said, "Um... I'm Fujimoto Hana."

Yamato beamed at her; Sakura never knew her taichou had a soft spot for children.

"We're looking for her mother, Aiko," Sakura explained.

Yamato nodded. "Chuunin, right?" Hana nodded vigorously. "All right, we'll find her."

Sakura squeezed Hana's fingers. "First we need to get some food in that belly of yours, don't we?" Hana grinned sheepishly, and Sakura felt a rush of affection for this adorable little girl.

"That is definitely manageable," Yamato said happily. "Come with me."

As they followed him, Sakura noted that while it was pleasantly quirky, it seemed a little... silly to be making his own crutch like that. He should have been reserving his energy for the leg to actually heal. She sighed quietly; surely there would be no arguing with him, even if out of her teammates he was the most agreeable, and at least the crutches were being used elsewhere.

He led them down a short passageway; Sakura was fairly positive it was a different route than the one Shikamaru had taken. They turned left through an open entryway into a room full of people. Many of them were unfamiliar, but Sakura recognized the old man in charge of the ramen stand seated in the center. A loud scraping noise drew her attention to a rusty pot in the corner; Ayame was stirring it with what looked like a katana.

Yamato raised his free hand and waved to the old man, who recognized Yamato and stood up. Several crouching people looked up curiously over the tops of their bowls to observe the new arrivals.

Teuchi stepped in front of them, planting his hands on his hips. His once white apron was covered in dirt and other stains. Smiling at them through squinty eyes, he asked, "What can I do for you?"

Yamato gestured towards Hana and Sakura. "These young ladies need to eat."

Teuchi gave them a quick once-over, his gaze lingering on Hana. He nodded gruffly. "Go over to Ayame; we're out of everything else."

Yamato led them over to Ayame's pot in the corner. She smiled and blushed a little when Yamato very politely asked for some of her _very delicious_ soup. She spooned the broth she was stirring into three wooden bowls, making sure to give a little extra to Hana.

Bowls in tow, they joined the cluster of people on the ground. Teuchi was sitting cross-legged in the middle; he was listening to one of them, a civilian, tell a story.

As Hana hungrily sipped at her broth, Sakura turned to Yamato on her left. The crutch had been absorbed back into his skin; he was sitting with his right leg outstretched, the other bent with the knee up.

"What's going on here?" Sakura asked him curiously.

Yamato looked up from his broth. "Hm?"

"How is the food organization going here— like, where did these bowls come from? Where did the food come from?" She took a long sip from her broth; she smiled against the rim of the bowl as she felt the warmth course through her body.

"Well," Yamato said, a touch of pride in his voice, "the bowls are my handiwork." Sakura nodded approvingly. "The water comes from a Suiton, while they used a Katon to light the fire underneath it."

"When Ayame and I first realized what was going on," Teuchi cut in, evidently done with his previous conversation, "we knew we'd have to evacuate, so we gathered every bit of food we could carry." Sakura nodded. "We've been trying to get it out to people, but it's been difficult."

Sakura raised her eyebrows inquisitively. Teuchi sighed heavily, saying, "It's been really tough to get things organized down here because everyone is still so panicked."

Yamato nodded in agreement. "Many shinobi are still recovering," he added. "And the civilians don't really have any non-shinobi leaders."

"We expect to be led and protected by the shinobi," Teuchi said. "But no shinobi have stepped up."

A little bit of tension crackled in the air, and Sakura couldn't help but let her gaze swivel to Yamato, who met it sheepishly.

"As an ANBU, I'm not recognizable to the civilians," he said a little defensively. "Not even most shinobi."

"So?" Sakura retorted. "People know that this is a crisis situation— they shouldn't be fussed. And besides, your status as an ANBU might identify you with ROOT, the people actually in charge; it's not like most people know the difference."

"Well," Yamato answered, "it's a little more complicated than that." Sakura did not look convinced. "People like me are helping in little pockets, but there's not really a rallying point."

"Most people, shinobi included, suspect that Danzou is doing everything he can," Teuchi supplied.

Sakura scowled into her soup.

Teuchi continued, "ROOT is doing enough to stop complete disaster from breaking out, so people are assuming it's under control."

"Some of the shinobi aren't that naïve," Sakura argued. "They're shinobi, shouldn't they—?"

"Some people have tried." Yamato cut him off with a little bit more of an edge to her voice. "There are few recognizable faces who people will take seriously."

His explanations were doing little to sate Sakura. "Then why don't a bunch of people band together and start restoring order— then it won't matter if it's one central, familiar face."

Yamato sucked in his broth thoughtfully. "Well, a couple reasons... first of all, the sheer number of casualties."

Broth scalded her throat as she swallowed hard around a gulp of soup. Oblivious, Yamato continued, staring pensively into his bowl. "Second, people are focused on survival, even after being here for a few days now."

Teuchi complemented this by adding thickly through a mouthful of soup, "There's no way me and Ayame could take control of the food, for example. Not only is our supply limited, but it's so hard to establish effective communication here."

Sakura looked at Hana, who was tipping the bowl up in the hopes of catching a leftover trickle of warm soup. "So people fall through the cracks."

Yamato coughed around his broth, "Maybe once things settle down— err, no, once more people are in stable physical condition, maybe we'll be able to establish a little more order."

Sakura nodded in concession of this point; she had personally witnessed the huge amoung of people in need of medical care.

Teuchi spoke in a low voice. "There are still plenty of people who haven't been able to find their loved ones—"

Yamato clipped him off with a pointed cough. He smiled quickly at Hana. "How did you like your broth?"

Hana shrugged and said (with a brief glance at Sakura), "I would've liked a little more veggies, but it was very very good, Ramen-san."

Teuchi reached over to ruffle her hair, his crow's feet bunching in a smile. "Thatta girl."

"We should get going," Sakura said, smacking her lips for the last traces of soup. She stood and helped Yamato to his feet, clasping a hand in his and pulling him up.

"Thanks for coming," Teuchi said heartily. "And give Naruto my greetings!"

Sakura smiled. Funny, she had completely forgotten about Naruto. He would definitely be happy to know that Teuchi and Ayame were okay.

Her mind conjured up an image, flashing it at her in a dark splash of sorrow: the ramen stand, crumbled in the dirt, the torn cloth of a red booth sticking out like blood in—

"Let's go, Sakura." Hana's tug on her hand pulled her back into reality, and with a grateful bow at Teuchi, they re-entered the hallway.

Yamato looked around, thinking. The murmur of voices could be heard in the distance. "Tell you what," Yamato suggested. "I'm going to go find someone who can lead us to Aiko-san... why don't you two go visit Naruto? I'll find you there."

"Na... Naruto?"

"He's very nice," Sakura assured Hana. "You'll like him a lot!"

Yamato spared Hana one quick, affectionate glance before nodding rather grimly at Sakura and hobbling off. Watching his retreating back, Sakura understood why he made that suggestion... _In case the news is not good._

Even if Sakura had not known where Naruto's room was, it would have been easy to find; his angry shouts could be heard from down the hall. As they approached, Sakura prayed that Naruto wasn't going to scare poor Hana— for his _own _sake.

Naruto was barely being restrained in his bed. His eyes were bulging out in anger; it was only Hinata's firm grip that was keeping him from lunging at the impossibly impassive young man standing before him. Naruto was _clawing_, and both he and Hinata had bright red faces.

"What?" Sai asked. "I was just trying to warn Hinata-san that your penis may be less than satisfac—"

Hana was whimpering, her face buried in the back of Sakura's thigh. A vein throbbing dangerously in her temple, Sakura snapped her fingers.

Naruto turned to face her and stopped struggling, but just to be careful, Hinata did not loosen her grip.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" (Sakura did not miss the cloud that passed over Hinata's eyes at the affection in Naruto's voice.) "Who's your little friend there?"

Sakura mouthed _You scared her, idiot_. Looking slightly abashed, Naruto fully relaxed against his pillow. Hinata's arms slipped out from around him and her hands went to her lap, where her fingers twiddled nervously.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, a friendly smile stretching across his face. "What's your name?"

Sakura nudged Hana forward encouragingly. "Um... I'm..." Her hand squirmed nervously in Sakura's grip. "Fujimoto Hana."

Naruto turned to Hinata. "You should introduce yourself too, Hinata-chan."

A faint blush painted Hinata's cheekbones as she stumbled over her introduction. Hana seemed drawn to her, so she walked over to the bed.

Leaning over to ruffle her hair, Naruto laughed, "Aww, you're a little cutie, aren't you!"

"Kind of like your—"

Sakura quelled Sai's taunting with a cool glare. Naruto lifted Hana onto his lap so that she could trace his whiskers with her fingers, and Sai started watching them with an inscrutable look on his face. Hinata was also watching, but her expression was clear: longing.

Sakura felt a little uncomfortable; she had no idea where Naruto's relationship with Hinata stood. Naruto was well enough that medics only came in for an occasional check-up, so they had surely spent hours alone together...

Naruto was looking at her curiously over the top of Hana's head. "You've been healing Kakashi-sensei, right?"

"Yeah."

"How is he?" Hinata asked.

Sakura shifted her weight to the other foot, looping her hands together behind her back. Watching the gentle movements of Hana's fingers, she answered, "He's pretty good right now."

"What happened to him?" Her lack of enthusiasm made Naruto's voice drop a little with concern.

"He fought Pain."

Naruto's jaw dropped— Sakura's gaze flickered up to him. Hinata's mouth was rounded in a soft "oh". Naruto stuttered, "But, y-you said he's okay now, right? He's— he's not too badly hurt?" He and Sakura were making eye contact, frightened blue matched with impassive green.

"...He's... different now, Naruto."

"Different?" Naruto's face was wrinkled in confusion.

Sakura tipped her head up and told the ceiling.

"He lost his Sharingan."

The room was quiet. Hana noticed the horrorstruck look on Naruto's face and tugged on his arm. "What's the matter, Naruto?" She pronounced his name carefully. Sakura looked back at them. "What's a Sharingan?"

Naruto's laugh was so fake it grated against Sakura's ears. He ruffled Hana's hair again. "Nothing! We just have a friend who can live up to his nickname, Cyclops." Hana did not understand, but she giggled when she saw that Naruto didn't look sad anymore.

"Oy, taichou!"

Sakura followed Naruto's shout. Yamato limped in, looking absolutely drained. He opened his mouth to address Naruto, but then he noticed Sai. This seemed to throw him off, and he looked at Sai in confusion, his mouth slack with his lost train of thought.

He blinked and caught Sakura out of the corner of his eye, and she gulped as he looked at her. She could see the bad news darkening his eyes.

A man ran in, going straight to the girl. He smelled no better than all of them and looked no worse for wear, but by his lack of significant chakra signature, Sakura guessed him to be a civilian. He gathered Hana up in his arms, hugging her close to his chest.

"It's okay," he crooned. "Uncle Renji is here, he's going to take care of you now."

Hana did not seem to understand what was going on, but she readily accepted her uncle's embrace. Still rocking her back and forth, Renji turned to Sakura and Yamato. "Thank you for bringing her to me," he croaked.

Sakura nodded, an "of course" mechanically passing through her lips. She answered Naruto's questioning look with a minute shake of the head. Thankfully, he got the message and did not ask her what was going on.

She looked back at Hana and Renji, trying to fight the sorrow rising up in her chest, rattling against her ribs and suffocating her heart. Quickly excusing herself, she half-ran down the hall, turning straight into a familiar room. She threw herself into the chair with a crash, burying her face in Kakashi's dirty sheets. Fisting her hair in her hands, she curled her legs around the sticky metal chair. Her stomach clenched unpleasantly, and she let out a high-pitched moan.

(...)

Yamato shook Renji's hand one last time, and his sigh was labored as he watched the man carry his niece away.

Naruto sucked in a long breath. "Eh, taichou... what was that about?"

"I don't want you to worry about it," Yamato told him wearily. Without looking behind him, he said, "Sai, I need to talk to you."

Sai followed him out to the hall, and once they were out of earshot of the hospital room Yamato rounded on him. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a low voice.

"Danzou called me back, so I had no choice but to return," Sai answered. "But we had tracked Kabuto's location, so Anko-san insisted on continuing the mission alone."

Yamato's eyes bugged out almost comically in shock. "What?! Does she have any idea how much _danger_—"

"With all due respect," Sai cut him off, "I think you should just follow me, taichou."

Yamato quieted and limped along after Sai. They went down the narrow hospital wing, passing dug out rooms full of groaning and yelling and crying. The passage began to dip down, and the first thing that clued Yamato in to where they were going was the foul stench of dead bodies.

They went down a narrow set of wooden stairs and landed on a wooden walkway, flanked on either side by the thick dirt walls. Yamato saw a staircase at the end of the platform that wound away into the darkness, but Sai led him to the left into a hallway.

Rather than torches, it was actually lit by a long line of thin fluorescent tubes. Sai's already pale lower back was so white-washed it looked like plastic.

A loud, angry laugh came from down the hall. A woman said, "Oh yeah?! Well, you pretty clown, you can shove your toy sword up your tight—"

Sai smiled broadly over his shoulder at Yamato. "It seems Anko-san is getting along well with my peers."

Yamato chuckled but regretted it immediately; it let the smell in, and he felt no shame in raising his arm against it, as it was particularly nasty.

They entered a room through an actual open door (rather than a roughly hewn hollow). Anko and two ROOT operatives stood against the wall, but immediately, Yamato's eyes flew to the body lying spread-eagled on the table— or rather, what was left of it.

Scales were peeling off of the rotting skin, which seemed to be riddled with holes, and the underbellies of the scales were stained rusty with blood. The face was the worst; a manic smile stretched from one pearly ear to the next, a swollen purple tongue lolling out. The right eye was missing, leaving a gory socket empty. Bloodshot and yellow, the remaining eye was wide open as it stared glossily at the bright white bulbs. His gray hair was streaked with jagged black.

"Cute, isn't it?" Anko drawled.

Yamato looked up at her. She was sucking angrily on the inside of her cheek, her right hand on her hip. She stood in the corner, looking surprisingly unscathed: she was just as dirty as the rest of them, but her face was drawn, a gauntness hanging about her features. Behind her anger, a weary sadness was evident.

"Kabuto was dead when I found him," she explained, glaring at the corpse. "We figure he took his eye out in a last-ditch attempt to save himself when he figured out that he couldn't stop Orochimaru. His body couldn't handle the stress, so he died."

His eyes watering from the smell, Yamato asked, "So Orochimaru is dead for certain this time?"

One of the operatives answered in the affirmative, and Yamato felt a grim sense of satisfaction.

"I wish I could have killed him," Anko said with relish, and as she eyed the body she unconsciously rubbed her shoulder. Yamato wondered if the curse seal was still there, but he did not want to ask.

"Yamato." He looked at the ROOT operative addressing him. "Your work here is done. ROOT is going to handle the rest of the examination."

He was puzzled by the resentment that narrowed Anko's features. "What about Anko?"

A snarl twitched at Anko's mouth and she turned away. A masked operative responded, "We are going to use her to see what types of Orochimaru's experiments still linger past his death."

Yamato saw the pain that stabbed at Anko's bloodshot eyes; he knew all too well that it felt humiliating to be viewed as nothing more than a test subject, and no matter the cost, he could never bring himself to relive the things Orochimaru had put him through. So it was without really thinking that he said crossly, "Oh, of course, because that's more important than focusing your resources on helping out the starving people upstairs." An image of Hana flashed through his mind.

The ROOT were reliably unphased, but Anko snapped her head back to look at him with surprise. Sounding braver than he felt, he continued, his eyes boring into the dark holes in the sculpted mask facing him. "There are people up there who really need help and they're all counting on you guys to do it!"

A beat of silence. "Sai, please escort Yamato-san out of headquarters."

Yamato's eyebrows flew up. "So _this_ is your headquarters?" he asked incredulously. "Not the dirty cave you've been crowding everyone in?"

The operative who had not yet spoken stepped forward, his cloak silent against the tile floor. "As an ANBU, you should understand."

Yamato bit his lip, and the operative took advantage of his hesitation by firmly taking his arm. Yamato jerked it away. "I can walk myself, thank you." He limped away as quickly as possible. He imagined Anko, who always so easily spoke her opinions, burning a hole into his back with an unimpressed stare at his half-assed attempt at rebellion, but he did not look back at her.

The ROOT operative was following him so silently it would have been easy to forget he was there. Walking up the stairs hurt a hell of a lot more than going down, but he bit back the pain, unwilling to show any weakness to the silent phantom. It was a skill that had been honed early in ANBU; they had always been taught to use it in the face of enemies.

As soon as they reached the top the operative left him, and Yamato allowed himself a rueful smile.

(...)

The torch was almost out, and Sakura sat in the warm glow of the embers, cross-legged on the metal chair as she massaged her feet. Strictly speaking she was supposed to be saving her chakra for healing, but she couldn't help but sneak a few glowing tendrils to soothe her aching feet.

She closed her eyes in bliss as the chakra stroked her sore spots; being touched by someone else's chakra was a little disconcerting at best (and downright unpleasant at worst), but when she used her own chakra on herself, it was relaxing... _And maybe a little ticklish_, she thought with a smile.

A small groan distracted her. She pulled her chakra back into her tingling fingers and opened her eyes. They were immediately drawn to the glow of the monitor, and she realized with astonishment that the fuzzy numbers indicated that _Kakashi was conscious._

Her heart jumped and pounded faster as she scooted her chair closer to him. His fingers twitched at the loud scraping, and she saw a bead of sweat roll down his face.

She checked the monitors again; everything seemed to be fine. She couldn't fight the grin breaking across her face: finally, after all of their hard work and sleepless hours, he was here, and he was okay.

A bucket sat at her feet, and she hastily dipped a washcloth inside. Frustratingly, there was very little water left. She rubbed it along the bottom, hoping to soak up any extra liquid.

She brought the washcloth to his forehead, splattering his bare face with a few droplets. A raspy noise issued from his throat, and his heavily chapped lips were parted: she realized he must have been thirsty. She picked the washcloth up off of his forehead and wrung it over his mouth. It was soaked more with sweat than water, but she figured that he'd probably had to drink worse.

"Sorry there's not more water," she said. To her delight, Kakashi hummed in response.

Even if it seemed a little anticlimactic, she was enormously relieved that he had made it to this point and proud of herself for pulling him through it... but she was feeling more than a little anxiety. The focus had been dedicated to getting him here, but not much thought had been given to what would happen when he _did_ wake up. She had never really considered that it was falling on her shoulders to explain what had happened: not just to him, but to Konoha.

He coughed, and she pressed the washcloth to his open mouth. She could hear him sucking in feebly, trying to extract moisture from the fibers. Pulling the cloth away to allow him time to breathe, she dabbed at his chin.

All of a sudden, he gasped with pain. She reflexively drew the cloth from his face, thinking she had done something, but it was his eye that was screwed shut with pain. She moved immediately towards the sedatives, but he rasped, "No." She stopped and looked down at him.

"What's wrong with my eye?"

The moment had been thrust upon her rather quickly; she didn't have any time to come up with any fluff to pillow the truth. He cracked open his good eye. Rather than confusion, she saw resignation there.

Her eyes locked onto his, and her lip trembled.

"It... it's gone, sensei."

He held her gaze for an agonizingly long moment before letting his eyelid fall. A heavy sigh crackled out of his throat, laced with sorrow.

"I'm sorry sensei," Sakura whispered.

His body was shaking. She heard a strange, strangled noise deep in his throat, and her stomach plunged nastily as she realized that he was choking back a sob. Instinctively, her hand shot to cover his, and she felt him turn his palm up so he could squeeze back faintly. He tried to compose himself, eyes tightly shut.

He swallowed a shudder and sighed, deflating in her grip. Sakura began rubbing soothing circles into his hand with her thumb. "Naruto defeated Pain."

His eye crinkled in a familiar smile. "Excellent," he said thickly.

She nodded. "Yep," she chirped. She was shaking all over. "And Team Gai along with some others helped defeat another one— Zetsu, I think."

"Gai..." Kakashi said warmly. "... And they're all okay?"

"Yes, and so are Yamato-taichou and Sai and all of the rookie nine, in fact." Speaking this good news calmed her heart a little, but the worst had yet to come.

Kakashi gave her a small nod. "I'm thankful for that." His eye was a little dark slit, but the lighting was too poor to determine if it was open or not. "Where are they?"

Sakura braced herself for the second bomb she had to drop tonight (and, given the subject matter, she had to chase away a very morbid pun). "The... the whole village has been evacuated underground."

His eye shot open in shock. Lips slightly parted, he watched her, demanding details with his stare. _(In her small panic, her brain clutched at the bizarre sensation of seeing his entire face express emotions—)_

She closed her eyes and shook her head, gathering her thoughts. She kept her eyes closed as she squeezed his hand.

"The village is in... a bad state, sensei."

"Why?" he croaked. "What do you mean?"

"The... the..." She gulped. "Pain had an attack that... was so b-big that it..." She hiccupped back a sob, struggling to keep her voice steady. Her eyes were brimmed with tears when she opened them. She met his eye, feeling a hot tear ooze down her cheek as she said, "He destroyed the village."

Kakashi blinked. "Destroyed?" he choked. Devastation struck his forlorn eye.

"Yes," she nodded, "most of the buildings have been... destroyed, and so Danzou—"

"Danzou?" he interrupted sharply. She heard the monitor speed up as his heart beat faster. He was latching onto something, she thought, a problem that could distract him from what he had just heard.

"Well," she said, "he took over Tsunade be-because—" Her voice broke, and she covered her face with her free hand. She felt him rubbing her hand softly, comfortingly, as she cried. _This is dumb_, she thought angrily. _He should be the one who's upset, he's the one who just found this out_.

"Shh." The sound was strained but gentle. She peeked at him through her fingers to see that his eye was closed. "She died defending her village and doing her duty as Hokage," he said. She blinked, a little thrown off by this textbook patriotism.

He cracked his eye open at her with a sad, knowing smile. "I know," he said. "That's a load of bullshit comapred to what you're going through."

She gave him a shaky laugh; he was just trying to cheer her up, in a little warped sort of way. Affectionately, she tightened the grip on his hand. "Thank you," she said nasally.

He curved his eye in his trademark blanket smile, but without the mask blurring his emotions, she could see that it was very pained.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL HAS AWAKENED!"

_Moment over. _Kakashi's face fell comically as Gai bounded into the room, springing to a rigid halt next to Sakura's chair. The arm that was not raised in salute was heavily bandaged, and thin strips of the same material wound tightly underneath his thick black bangs. One of his legs was stiff with wrappings, and Sakura peeked down to see a few broken toes. His large nose was made all the more bulbous by the thick padding taped to its tip.

Sakura's eye twitched as she noticed that his tight-fitting green jumpsuit was torn in some... unsavory places: a spot on his rear was gleaming proudly with sweat. Kakashi seemed to have noticed, too; he watched, eye drooping, as Gai sniffed theatrically, scrunching up his small black eyes in a building wave of emotion.

"What a miracle," he exclaimed, "that this young blossom has flowered into the springtime of her youth by bringing her sensei back into this world with the tender grip of her hand!"

A blush shot up Sakura's neck and she released Kakashi's hand. He twitched his hand and winced; she saw with even more embarrassment that his fingers were red and throbbing.

"Sensei," she groaned, "I'm so sorry..."

"Don't mention it," he said weakly.

"Kakashi!" Gai cried, equally distributing grand emphasis on each syllable. "You will be most amazed to hear of my daring exploits against the nefarious Zetsu! His branches bounded to and fro, attempting to spear me with their malicious thorns, but I did not give in! My youthful ward and I dynamically entered his head with our feet and—"

"Go away, please," Kakashi sighed. His brow was pinched in a frown. "I need to rest."

Gai let out a passionate cry, his hands flying to clutch at his hair as he thrusted his hips forward powerfully. "TO YOUTH!" he bellowed, and he ran away in a blur of green.

Sakura had a hand covering her mouth in horror. As the shock started to dissipate, she couldn't help but laugh. She was glad that Gai-sensei came in to lighten the mood, although he seemed to tire out Kakashi very quickly.

"Right..." he yawned. "Well, I'm going to take a nap, and then maybe I can get out of this bed, hm?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him, her mirth faltering immediately. "Are you crazy?" she demanded. "You need at least another few days in bed!"

Kakashi frowned. "No," he said quietly. "I refused to stay cooped up in this creepy room."

"Ugh!" she seethed. "You have no idea what your body has been through."

"Just get me some sedatives, please," he said irritably.

She reached over to the machine, jabbing the button with excessive force. "Maybe I'll hae Gai-sensei patrol the halls to make sure you don't try to sneak out," she grumbled.

He hummed in response to the painkillers and sleep aids flowing quickly into his body. Sakura had noticed that while they were lacking in many basic supplies, ROOT had never had any shortage of drugs.

"Maybe," Kakashi said loftily, "you can just keep your pretty little butt parked in that chair like it surely has been this whole time..."

"Sensei!" she exclaimed hotly.

"What?" he said, his voice slurring a little. "Iss much nicer than Gaiss, that washn't a sight for the ffffaint hearted..."

She could feel her face flush again. "Sensei, you pervert!"

"Whaaat? I seem to be suffering selective short termmmemory loss... you should warsh how much drugs you're giving me young lady..." His words trailed off as the sedatives pulled him into sleep.

Still fuming, she wiped her wet eyes and nose with the back of her arm. She followed the rising and falling of his chest. His exhales were a little wheezy, like his nose was a little stuffy too.


	6. Chapter Five: Anxiety

Hmm, sorry this took awhile, but it's here now. On this I thank nimbl doubly. I'm turning sixteen in a week, so this is probably my last chapter posted as a fifteen-year-old... (mind reels)  


* * *

Naruto itched restlessly at his legs. Sakura had threatened him into staying bedridden for the last few days, but he really felt like it was unnecessary. He knew that she was worried; however, he felt like he had _really _rested up all that he needed to. He was dying to get out into the Cave and, even more importantly, get back up to Konoha.

He swallowed. Every time he thought of his beloved village, melancholy plucked painfully at his heartstrings, but every time he combated it with a fierce hope to restore Konoha to its former glory. No, it would be better, once they were done with it: they'd make all of the buildings stronger than they had been before, and they'd plant the most majestic trees the entire continent had ever seen. The faces of their forebears would loom impressively over the powerfully rebuilt village, and no one would dare to question the Will of Fire. But, more importantly than all of those, the first building Naruto would make Yamato-taichou reconstruct would be, of course, Ichiraku Ramen...

He yawned loudly, folding his arms behind his head in a shuddering stretch. "I think I'm ready to get out of here," he groaned, rubbing the yawn's fledgling tears out of his startling blue eyes. He turned to Hinata, who was, as always, sitting dutifully at his side. "How are things out there?"

Hinata pursed her lips together thoughtfully. "Well," she said quietly, "they're pretty disorganized."

"Yeah." Naruto nodded knowledgeably. "That's what Shikamaru said."

Shifting in her chair, Hinata asked him, "What do you want to do next?"

Naruto squinted forward, leaning over and cupping his chin in thought. "Well, some of that stuff Nagato said really meant a lot to me..." His gaze flickered down to his lap.

Hinata's eyes widened curiously. "You mean, about peace...?" During the time they had been spending together, Naruto had shared with her scattered snippets of his conversation with Nagato. Throughout their brief discussions, the point that always seemed to consume Naruto's interest the most was that Nagato had been killed by his own man.

Did that mean that Nagato really had been going to switch sides, and Akatsuki considered him an enemy? Naruto had voiced the question a thousand times; it never ceased to puzzle him. Practically speaking, it did not make a difference, but neither of them ever voiced that opinion because they knew that really, it _did_ matter.

"Yeah," Naruto answered solemnly. He recrossed his legs in order to relieve the pressure on his left foot. "And you know, we've kind of talked about this, but I've really been thinking about how..." He sighed, tracing misshapen circles on his papery hospital blanket. "Well, think about it. Revenge for revenge leads to more revenge, and fighting doesn't really bring peace because there will always be someone wanting to avenge the person who died in the conflict... basically it's just a cycle of violence..."

Hinata nodded and Naruto continued, "We've lost a lot in this fight against Akatsuki, but I don't want it all to lead to more and more violence. I mean, you saw what happened... people are going to want revenge for this. But what if other countries get involved? Then this whole thing just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger..."

"Well," Hinata said, smiling slightly, "the village will be starting fresh, I think. Maybe you can make sure your opinions on that are heard so that people don't make those mistakes anymore."

Naruto laughed. "Well, I'm pretty loud, so that shouldn't be too hard!" His smile faded some and his voice took on a more serious tone again. "And I still... want to get Sasuke back."

Blinking, Hinata asked carefully, "You think he'll...?"

"I think he'll listen to me more this time." Naruto rubbed his nose absently. "I still want him back, but it's for different reasons now. Now that I understand more of his pain, he'll actually take my views seriously." He looked straight at Hinata. "If I've come out on this side of hatred, why can't Sasuke?"

Hinata smiled at him. "Then you would have your whole team back..." she said quietly. "I know how much you want that."

"I think they'd like that, too," Naruto replied.

It was quiet for a little while as Naruto searched her face. She felt her cheeks flush a little as he studied her, uncharacteristically blank in his expression. After his observations were apparently finished, he turned away from her a little, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"It's not just for Sakura's promise anymore, either," he added. "I mean, I know that she would want Sasuke back, too, but I'm doing it for myself." He sighed softly. "I wouldn't want Sakura to think that anything I'm going through because of wanting to get Sasuke back is her fault."

"You two really care about each other," Hinata commented.

Oddly, Naruto clamped his mouth shut, his ears going pink. Hinata was confused. In a blur of movement he leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips before scrambling out of bed.

"All better!" he exclaimed, his voice a few octaves too high. "Going to see Kakashi-sensei now bye!"

Hinata was stunned. She was still sitting on the chair, but she felt like she was swaying back and forth. Overwhelmed by sheer glee, she watched the colors of the room run together and swirl in a heady haze of stars; she could feel the faint coming on...

(...)

It took Kakashi a few moments to realize he had woken up. Those sedatives must have been strong...He hadn't even known he was asleep.

He kept his eye closed; he was tired, and there was nothing to look at here. Seeing red, he surmised that the torch was on and it was still "daytime", but he couldn't hear any breathing but his own. There were distant voices, probably outside of the room, but they were all muffled. His hearing was handicapped by the bandages covering his ear and his eye.

_What's wrong with my eye?_

_It's gone, sensei._

Kakashi screwed his eye shut tighter, and a curtain of black came down on the filtered pink light. He was trembling a little.

Something sad and dark stirred in the pit of his stomach. It had been curled tightly into a little black ball, but it stretched now, purring menacingly. He felt it creep languidly up his chest, coating his ribs in its ebony melancholy. It oozed onto his fragile organs, which shivered under its poisonous touch. He squirmed a little in the bed; underneath his eyelid there was only black, but he could clearly picture the progression of the viscous fluid. He was watching it, he could see the sticky black juice drip onto his heart.

He shuddered and opened his eye. He blinked at the imaginary pictures hovering on the fringes of his vision, willing the torchlight to wash them away. His eye flickered to a monitor on his right; according to the measured peaks and dips in the fuzzy green line, his heart was fine.

But it didn't _feel _fine. He felt like there was a hand squeezing it, choking it, strangling it, a hand with manicured purple nails...

He sighed. Pain throbbed dully in the covered void in his face. It was sore… he remembered it hurting the first time, but it was different then. He had been in the heat of battle and still buzzing with the adrenaline of saving his new best friend. Rin's medkit had made the pain bearable and he had kept fighting... but not now. The painkillers were ebbing away and there were no heroic acts to distract him. All that sat with him was the frustration and the emptiness and the keen, keen sorrow.

The emptiness was the worst. The destruction of the village was so large and abstract that he didn't have the capacity to grapple with it right now. It was an ominous whisper in the back of his mind, twisting around him quietly. He was always aware of it but could not bring himself to fully appreciate it. But he was _acutely_ aware of the missing presence, the phantom voice that only echoed in his head.

He had never had to summon Obito's voice before. It had always crashed unbidden into his thoughts, throwing in a well-needed dose of good humor or optimism or courage. But now... he tried to reach out, but there was nothing there. Just smoke...

So this was how it used to feel.

He had forgotten. He had become so accustomed to Obito's presence. Now everything was off, and his chakra was weak and frightened without the strong hand of the Sharingan pulling it towards his eye. It buzzed nervously through his system, rediscovering how to work alone as it tugged at his chakra nodes, testing to see if they were truly allowed to operate without sacrificing strength to the king. In a small way it was probably invigorating, but he wasn't ready to think of it that way yet. His body may have been preparing to start over, but in his mind he was still grieving.

Swallowing around the lump in his throat, he cast his eye on the chair beside his bed. A concave indent dipped broadly in the center of the seat, scratched and rusty. Now that he was lucid he recognized that _her_ chakra had been the soothing, familiar presence that had eased him out of his initial loss. A flutter of warmth nipped lightly at his fragile heart, and he let his eyelid fall nearly closed. His eyelashes feathered his vision, distorting the blur of color and light.  
_  
... I'm sorry, sensei._

She hadn't needed to apologize. Without her, he'd probably be dead.

"Sensei!"

Hopeful surprise kicked at his stomach, but the voice was all wrong: it was not Sakura, but Naruto. He widened his eye enough to take in the sight of his former student, standing proudly in the doorway wearing nothing but a flimsy hospital gown.

"Glad to see you're awake Sensei!" For some reason his face was burning red, but he didn't want to ask. The young shinobi dropped down onto the chair; Kakashi winced a little, hoping that his backside was sufficiently covered...

"Hi, Naruto," he said weakly.

Naruto's beaming grin faltered a little as his eyes strayed to Kakashi's bandages. Deciding that it would be easiest to try to make light of the situation, Kakashi smiled at Naruto, his remaining eye curving happily.

"Congratulations," he said. "Sounds like you succeeded where I could not." He wasn't bitter, and he prayed he didn't sound it.

Naruto's reaction was belated; Kakashi cracked his eye open to see him just snap his attention away from the bandages. "Oh, thanks!" he said, his face wrinkled in a grin. "Yeah, I kicked his ass. You helped though sensei." The last was added as a hurried afterthought.

Kakashi closed his eye. "Hmm."

He heard Naruto scratching his chin. "It was actually really confusing what happened," he said. "I didn't do it all by myself. Actually, the one who did him in was Zetsu."

Kakashi had heard this from Sakura, but it still intrigued him. "Yeah, tell me how that happened..."

"Well, Nagato and I--"

"Nagato?"

"Oh, that's Pain's real name," Naruto explained. "When I took out the main body I used sage mode to--"

"Sage mode?"

Naruto squinted in thought. "Uh, it's when I meditate really hard to borrow some of nature's energy... it's kinda complicated. Pa Toad explained it to me..."

"I see." Kakashi didn't usually feel this old. He had never heard of "ninja modes" before... But no, he did seem to remember Jiraiya mentioning this "sage mode" once. Yes, that made him feel a little better.

"Yeah, and so I stuck one of those nasty black things in me and I could use sage mode to see where the master Pain was hiding out. He was in this tree with a blue-haired woman, Konan..."

"A woman?" Kakashi asked curiously. His voice was still very raspy.

Naruto nodded. "She had blue hair." Kakashi inclined his head in acknowledgment of this important detail. "Anyway, she controls paper, and she made this tree out of paper and that's where they were hiding."

A tree made out of paper... Kakashi let out a little chuckle, but it quickly escalated into a cough. Naruto looked around nervously, having no idea what to do to help him. He eyed a machine warily. "Uh... should I press that button...?"

Kakashi shook his head hastily. "No," he croaked. "I'll be fine... I'm just a little thirsty, that's all..."

"Oh!" Naruto said brightly. "I can help with that, I think!" He brought his hands together as if to perform a seal, but Kakashi only shook his head back and forth again. The last thing he needed was to be sopping wet on top of everything else.

"Just keep talking," he said, his voice reduced to a crackling whisper.

"'Kay." Naruto leaned back in the chair. "So yeah, we were in the tree but at first there was no fighting... we were just talking."

"Talking?"

"Yeah." A solemnity had captured Naruto's features, and Kakashi listened with interest. "We kinda explained ourselves to each other... and I really hated him at first. He had killed Jiraiya, and, uh--" His eyes flitted around uncomfortably.

"Me," Kakashi supplied.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah... so he did that and he had destroyed the whole village..." The words stabbed at Kakashi's heart. "So I really hated him. But he started talking about how revenge was all just a cycle and that the 'peace' I was talking about would lead to war for many others..." He shook his head a little. "But before he could finish Zetsu came in and made a huge explosion! Then Team Gai and some others came running in and we defeated Zetsu but, well… it helped because the tree was on fire..."

This was all a little too much for Kakashi to handle at one time. He closed his eye, deflating a little. So many deep, complicated concepts... treachery and revenge and peace and...

"... Sasuke."

Kakashi cracked open his eye and tuned back in. "What?" he croaked.

"I said it made me think about Sasuke," Naruto repeated. "All of this has just made me more determined to get Sasuke back, now more than ever. This time he'll listen. This time I've been through a loss and haven't given into revenge, so I know it's possible, and I'll sound more credible to him."

Kakashi let out a noncommittal "hm". While he wanted to believe that Sasuke could truly reform, he wasn't sure that reconciliation was possible. Not only would it be difficult for Sasuke to come to terms with himself and the misdirection of his life thus far, but Kakashi didn't know if he could ever really forgive Sasuke. Besides, he considered himself pretty credible when it came to experiencing loss, but his words hadn't stopped Sasuke, had they?

_You're being conceited_, a voice told him, and unlike Obito's, he found that his own inner voice was rather cold. _Naruto can do things that you can't._

The silence began to grow awkward. He noticed Naruto doing something rather odd... He was staring resolutely at a spot several inches above Kakashi's head, which in itself was not strange, but every few seconds Naruto's eyes twitched as if they wanted to move somewhere else, but he exerted force to keep them in place. He was making it painfully obvious that he was trying to look anywhere but at Kakashi's bandages. Finally, he blurted, "How did you lose it?"

Kakashi let out a little sigh. "Tact was never your strong point."

"Sorry." Naruto's apology was only a little sheepish. "But it was... Pain?"

He merely nodded. He had no intention of divulging the... rusty details. Not to a soul.

Naruto swung his legs back and forth against the chair. "I just want peace," he said quietly.

"We'd be out of the job," Kakashi said dryly. Naruto did not crack a smile, leveling Kakashi with a grave look. Whatever smile Kakashi had been forcing faded, and he looked out at the empty doorway. "No, I agree," he said seriously. "Peace would be nice..."

(...)

"His branches bounded to and fro, attempting to spear me with their malicious thorns, but I did not give in! My youthful ward and I dynamically entered his head with our feet and..."

Gai was once again regaling a group of jounin with the tale of his daring. They were gathered around him in the main cavern for want of anything better to do. His arms were waving wildly in the air; were it not for his superb balance, he surely would have fallen.

Genma was sitting against the wall, knees up. His left arm was cradled in a sling, and a senbon hung from his torn lip. He wasn't listening to Gai's story. He sighed, tucking some sticky strands of brown hair behind his ear. His gaze was fixed on a dark passageway several yards away, flanked by two members of ROOT.

A man was sitting across from him; his sandy brown hair fell lightly on his heavily scarred face. He gave Genma a weary smile, rolling his eyes in Gai's direction. The ghost of a smile passed over Genma's face, but then his eyes swung back to his vigilant watch.

"So I heard Kakashi made it," Raidou said.

Genma blinked but did not look at him. "That's good," he said tonelessly.

Nodding, Raidou added, "Gai says that he's different now, though..."

Genma looked at him. "Different?"

Raidou opened his mouth, but Genma's attention was instantly caught by a noise from the passageway. He whipped his head towards the disturbance; a figure was descending the steep path.

He heard a mutter of "Genma, no" but he did not heed it. As he walked over to the new arrival, it became clear that it was a member of ROOT. He stopped where the masked man had paused to exchange information with one of the cloaked guards. His feet were spread shoulder width apart; his posture was deceptively relaxed. He tried to exude calmness, but the free hand he had slipped into his pocket was clenched into a fist.

The masked man stopped talking to turns towards him. "Can I help you?"

"Why yes, I think you can," Genma said casually, affecting gratitude at being asked. "There's someone I'd like to see."

"Why do you need direction?" the operative asked politely. "Being a jounin you are probably capable--"

"There's just one problem," Genma interjected.

The operative did not miss a beat. "What?"

"She's _dead_."

The mask, of course, did not flinch. "Unfortunately," it replied, "access to the deceased is not--"

"Oh, will you shut the _fuck_ up?" Genma's drawl escalated into a shout. He ground out angrily, "Every fucking day it's the same fucking charade--" Here, he took his hand out of his pocket and waved it about in a burlesque display, adopting a high, put-upon pitch that dripped heavily with mockery. "I'm sorry, sir, but only Danzou's pretty puppets are allowed out of the shithole--"

The operative cut him off with a mechanical "Sir, please calm down" but Genma wouldn't have it. "Calm down?!" he thundered indignantly. His arm dropped and he poked his nose threateningly into the mask's painted porcelain leer. "Maybe I'll _calm down_ when you can realize that there's no point in keeping hundreds of able-bodied--"

A cloak fluttered as another operative moved and placed a firm grip on Genma's arm. "We already warned you." The voice was barely different than the other-- just a little higher to indicate femininity, but it was no less firm. "You need to calm down."

He spat his senbon to the ground.

The grip on his arm tightened. He started summoning his strength to break away from the grasp and attack, plans flying through the red haze of his anger, but he was distracted by the wail of a child.

Genma wrenched his good arm from the cloaked woman's grip. He gave the impassive mask a murderous glare before turning sharply on his heel and storming off in the other direction. The strong chakra signatures of the multiple operatives stationed at the foot of the Cave's entrance faded away to be replaced by the chaotic signatures of the halls.

He found himself in a slightly narrower hallway and dimly recognized it as the hospital wing. A specific chakra signature distracted him, so he slowed. It was familiar, but it felt different than he remembered-- and yet, he felt like he had known this one, too...

The signature pulsed the strongest as he passed a room with an actual door. The wooden door stood ajar, and through the gap silver hair entered his vision.

_"Gai says that he's different now, though..." _With Raidou's words passing through his head, he pushed the door aside and entered.

Kakashi was lying with his head propped up slightly against a greasy lump of a pillow. The upper left side of his face was wound with bandages... Genma's jaw slackened as his eyes widened with realization.

_It's... gone?_

Wearily Kakashi sighed. "If you're going to take your time, maybe you should have a seat."

Taking the hint, Genma sat in the metal chair, eyeing Kakashi apprehensively despite the latter's apparent calmness. He let out a long whistle of breath. "I'm sorry."

Kakashi's eyebrow dipped, the skin around his mouth creasing in a frown. "What brings you here?"

Distracted from Kakashi's disturbing lack of eye and reminded of his ire, Genma leaned back in the chair, letting out a long exhale. "I hate those dirty fucks."

"Really, I thought those were your favorite," Kakashi quipped.

Understanding the joke, Genma let out a bitter half of a laugh. "Not anymore."

Kakashi slid his black eye over to look at Genma; it was bloodshot and underscored with a purple smudge. Genma looked away.

"Shizune's dead."

He could picture Kakashi's hangdog look of sorrow, but he couldn't look; he did not want to see even a _fraction_ of his own hollow misery reflected there.

Kakashi started to say something, but Genma cut him off. "Don't bother, you were never good at consoling anybody. And besides," he growled, "I don't want any of that shit, I just want to — to do right by her, you know?" He let out a frustrated groan, covering his eyes with a hand. His broken arm was throbbing in the sling. He was sweaty and grimy and he just needed fresh air.

"I know," Kakashi said quietly.

"And those stupid fuckers won't let me!" Genma exclaimed angrily. "They're keeping us underground here for no reason!"

"Yeah," Kakashi rasped, "there's no good reason to keep us here."

Genma uncovered his face to look appealingly at Kakashi. "I know, right?"

"It's not as if the threat is still there..." Kakashi said thoughtfully. "Pain is dead, and counting him, Akatsuki has lost three members..."

"Three?"

"Pain's girlfriend or whatever quit when he died," Kakashi explained.

Genma snorted, even though it wasn't very funny.

Kakashi raised a trembling hand to scratch at the stubble on his chin; he still looked pretty beaten up. "I wonder what other sorts of motives they may have..."

"Yeah," Genma said enthusiastically, "maybe they're going through and raiding any existing records."

Kakashi's frown deepened. "That wouldn't be good..."

The door creaked; Genma turned to see Yamato come in. He was limping a little, so Genma stood and offered him the chair.

"Thank you," Yamato said sincerely, lowering himself gratefully into the metal chair. Genma leaned against the wall, nudging the door shut with a sandaled foot. "Sakura just healed my leg, so it's a little stiff."

"You've seen Sakura today?" Kakashi asked.

Genma noticed that Yamato didn't seem to want to look at Kakashi. He told Kakashi's foot, "Yes, Sakura and I have been quite busy today."

"What have you been doing?" Kakashi sounded unusually impatient.

Yamato blinked a few times. "Well, uh..."

Kakashi let out a very irritated sigh. "I lost my eye," he snapped, "and it's not like that hasn't happened before, so can we please move on?"

Yamato hesitated; Genma stepped in, asking, "So, Tenzou, what did you say you were doing?"

Yamato closed his eyes and removed his scuffed headwear so that he could massage his forehead; his brown hair was matted into sweaty clumps. "Some ANBU -- regular," he clarified, "have started trying to organize food distribution, and I've been helping with that."

Kakashi visibly brightened at that news. "That's good," he said.

Yamato nodded, peering at Kakashi a little tentatively through his fingers. "It's pretty chaotic," he continued, "but we're trying to round up hungry people and people with food and match them up."

"Sounds... challenging," Genma mused.

Kakashi fixed Yamato with a curious gaze. "How effective has it been?"

"Well," Yamato answered, "unfortunately, not everyone with food is coming out and saying so... By now, some people have spread out into pretty isolated pockets, trying to provide for their own." He sighed, looking down into his lap. "_Apparently_, when we initially came underground, ROOT designated several people as food distributors, but none of these people must have been very well-equipped to organize anything. But now that, for the most part, emergencies have been dealt with, more capable people are starting to step in."

"Typical," Genma spat. "ROOT never takes responsibility in the right places-- what the hell are they doing that's more important than feeding people? Even if Danzou intends to rule the fucking world, there have to be people in it."

Kakashi broke the thoughtful silence that followed by saying, "Maybe they're trying to hush up what's happened... Think how vulnerable Konoha is right now. If people get a whiff of this, we could be facing an even worse attack."

Yamato looked pensive, but Genma was not impressed. "Again, there have to be people to defend."

"Well, we're still here, aren't we?" Kakashi argued. "Konoha is full of people, and Danzou probably expects that there are people who are going to assume leadership positions and get things done around here. And he did choose some people to hand out food, even if they were apparently ill-chosen..."

Genma shook his head. "You haven't been out there, Kakashi," he said. "When you put it like that it sounds like they're doing something, but I bet that their version of delegating was giving a couple bags of potato chips to an Akimichi. They haven't been doing jack shit, and there's no excuses."

"It is pretty bad, sempai," Yamato seconded, a little apologetically. "There's no real excuse..."

Kakashi looked very annoyed. "I'm not saying that they're going about this the right way," he said crossly. "I'm just trying to look at it from their point of view."

"And accomplish what, exactly?" Genma glared angrily at Kakashi. He worked his mouth around in an agitated circle before realizing that there wasn't anything in it.

Kakashi glared right back. "If we understand why they're doing what they're doing it'll be easier to get done what we want to do."

Genma narrowed his eyes. Kakashi was always making things more complicated than they needed to be... "Can you please rephrase that in plain speech?"

It looked like Kakashi was about to roll his eye, but then he gasped in pain. His hand flew to cup his eye, his dirty nails digging into his slick skin.

"Are you all right, sempai?" Yamato leaned forward in concern.

"Yes," Kakashi hissed. He removed his shaking hand from his face; Genma could see that his eye was watering in pain. "I guess the nerves there are still... kind of confused, so my brain tries to move both eyes, but..."

His voice trailed off into an uncomfortable silence. Genma sighed, rubbing at an ache in his neck. "Point is, we have to do something about all this. Sounds like you guys are getting a good start," he said, inclining his head at Yamato, "but we really need to get more people on this. The sooner we show them that they're ready, maybe the sooner they'll let us up."

"Or we can pressure them to," Kakashi said. There was still a tremor of pain in his voice, but it was nonetheless determined.

Genma caught a glimpse of pink out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head curiously to see Haruno Sakura, the Hokage's apprentice, standing there.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura briskly crossed the short distance to the foot of Kakashi's bed. "How are you feeling? You don't look so good..."

Sakura bent over to get a better look at Kakashi, her hands planted in between his feet.

"I'm feeling much better!" Sakura blocked Kakashi's face, but Genma could perfectly picture the happy curve of his eye. "In fact, I think I should be getting out of bed soon..."

He heard the groan of the springs as Kakashi started trying to sit up, but Sakura firmly grabbed his ankles. "No," she said, and Genma repressed a shiver at the danger in her voice. "You are staying in bed for at _least _another day."

"Sakura..." Ah, that would be the pout. Sakura hesitated; it was unlikely she had ever been exposed to Kakashi's full facial pout, since he used to play that ridiculous game with his students.

"N-no!" She released his feet, straightening up and planting her gloved hands firmly on her hips. "I'm your medic and I say so, Kakashi!"

"But I'm really fine," Kakashi insisted. "Just ask my most favorite kohai..."

All eyes swiveled onto the unsuspecting Yamato. He quavered under the attention, looking nervously back and forth between Kakashi and Sakura. "W-well, I mean, his... eye _was_ hurting him--"

"-- only because I exerted it unnecessarily," Kakashi practically sang. Genma couldn't help but chuckle a little at the look of fear on Yamato's face.

"Why, what did you do to it?" Sakura asked. Genma was impressed at how frankly she referred to Kakashi's eye situation. In fact, when he thought about it, he realized that she had never known him without the Sharingan... he had had it since around the time she had probably been born.

"I was rolling my eyes because Genma was being stupid," Kakashi said irritably.

"I was not being stupid!" Genma fired back, instantly riled up again. "You were the one defending Danzou!"

"Defending Danzou?" Sakura asked curiously.

Kakashi exhaled loudly through his nose rather like a bull. "I was trying to be rational..."

"Rational, you spat out some confusing gobbledegook..."

"Well then, let me rephrase it _clearly_," Kakashi snapped. "If we understand the method behind Danzou's actions, we'll know what's important to him right now. That way we can better figure out how to manipulate whatever system he's sure to set up to get the right things done... there's no way we're trusting him with being in charge of the village."

"What if he's chosen as Hokage?"

Yamato's question hung in the stagnant air.

"That's not going to happen," Genma said flatly. "The jounin have to vote."

"Jounin vote is typically a lengthy process," Kakashi said. He sounded worried. "In an emergency of this scale the daimyou might want to get a Hokage in immediately. The state might not even consult the shinobi council; they'll just pick someone."

Genma frowned. "Speaking of which, has anyone heard anything about them?" The others looked at him, Sakura craning her neck. "The council, I mean... you'd think they'd be helping run things, wouldn't you?"

Without Sakura's head in the way, he could see that Kakashi looked deeply troubled by this. "Yes..." he said slowly. "They're all about organization and delegation, you'd think they would be involved..."

Sakura twisted her body fully to face Genma, sitting up on the railing at the foot of Kakashi's bed. "What do you think it means?" she asked. Her green eyes shone as she calculated, trying to process all of the information. "Do you think it's possible that they're just holed up with him taking care of PR?"

Genma shrugged. "Probably not," he said. "The council has never been known for involvement with ROOT, has it?" He craned his neck to look at Kakashi for an answer.

Kakashi shook his head. "It's independent of any authority but Danzou's," he said. His voice sounded terribly sore, and Sakura turned to look at him in concern.

"Sensei, you sound awful..."

His silver bangs danced as he shook his head back and forth again, but a nasty cough erupted from his throat.

Sakura sighed. "Tell me if you want water," she told him. "I'm serious, I'll get it for you. Just ask." He nodded and she turned back to Genma, worry still clouding her features.

"This doesn't bode well," Yamato said darkly. "Perhaps they're..."

Sakura looked horrified at the thought. She whipped her head around to look at Kakashi again, twisted at the waist and bracing herself with her hands splayed on his bed again.

"Do you think Akatsuki killed them?" she asked fearfully.

"I don't know," Kakashi said honestly. He bit his lip.

"Well, we should find out!" Sakura demanded. She maneuvered herself around so that she was sitting cross-legged at the foot of Kakashi's bed, her back pressed against the railing. "This is really serious!"

"It _is_ serious," Kakashi agreed. He weakly shifted his feet further apart to make room for Sakura. Genma fought down a little smirk; Kakashi was less opposed to an impulsive invasion of his personal space than usual. He only seemed mildly uncomfortable about Sakura's position. "However, we do have more immediately pressing issues to deal with... Te-- Yamato told me about how you have been helping with the food organization."

Sakura nodded. "Mm-hm, we've so far designated one big cavern as the mess hall. It's really been taking off since Naruto came down to help, too... he's very enthusiastic," she laughed. "We're working with ANBU to help organize things a little better."

"They're a little difficult to work with, though," Yamato chuckled. "They've not taken so kindly to being ordered around by a chuunin."

Genma saw Sakura's ears flush. "It's so annoying!" she complained. "Like rank means anything!"

"It means something to them," Kakashi said. "Rank is important in ANBU."

"This isn't an assassination mission," Sakura said crossly. "They're not as good as I am at determining what food is still safe for which people. Besides, they have no idea how to communicate with normal people."

All three of the men laughed. Sakura was not nearly as amused. "It's not funny," she huffed. "Shikamaru has also been trying to help but they're reluctant to listen to him, even though he works in Intel sometimes."

"Not only do ANBU believe that, since they answer only to the Hokage, they're on top of the world, but ANBU and Intel traditionally don't have the best relationship," Genma chuckled. "They're supposed to work together harmoniously, and it's key that they know how to cooperate, buuuut... there have been some miscommunications in the past that have set up some tensions..." He smirked at the recollection of various pranks he and his squad used to play on the squints.

"I'm not interested in inter-departmental politics," Sakura said coolly. "The point is that they aren't listening to authority! Some of them listen to Yamato-taichou, but it's not enough."

"People are kind of put off by me," Yamato said, frowning. "Something about being a product of Orochimaru's experiments..."

Kakashi sighed. "Where are some other ANBU captains?"

"Most of them have died, Kakashi," Yamato said quietly.

There was a sticky silence. Kakashi lifted a hand to rub at his face again. "Great," he said thickly. "That's fucking fantastic."

If his former student was surprised by her teacher's profanity, she didn't show it. "Kakashi," she said suddenly, "What if you help? They'll probably listen to you."

Kakashi appeared to mull over the idea. "Hmm..."

"I think they really would," Yamato volunteered. Genma thought it a little sycophantic, but he felt that the situation warranted it. While Kakashi was more than comfortable in a leadership role, due to certain circumstances he might be reluctant to go out right now. He had already displayed discomfort with two people he knew relatively well gawking at his lack of Sharingan, but once the bandages were gone and he was out in a sea of strangers who only knew him by his borrowed eye, he was sure to be under a very unappreciated spotlight.

"I'll help," Kakashi said finally. Surprisingly, his face split in a grin. "But that means I have to get out of bed, doesn't it, Sakura-chan?"

Genma's laugh drowned out whatever Sakura grumbled. "He's got you there, pinky!"

"Don't call me pinky," she said mirthlessly. "Fine, you can get out of bed, but _not yet_." Kakashi's attempt at escape was cowed by her tone. "We're not done talking. What about the elders? What are we going to do?"

"There's not much we can do," Yamato said plainly.

"We could investigate," Sakura countered.

Kakashi frowned. "Our efforts should probably be concentrated on getting people fed..."

"What about going aboveground?" It had been burning behind his lips, and Genma could hold it back no longer. "Isn't the sooner the better?"

"Not necessarily," Kakashi said softly. "It's easier to get food to everyone if we've got them all in one space, I think, and besides... People aren't going to be at their most cooperative when they are face to face with the devastation outside." He sighed heavily. "As soon as we get outside, everyone's first concern is going to be rebuilding the village. It's important that we establish a system that works first. Then we can start considering how to apply that system once we get out of the Cave; only at that point will we be ready to move aboveground."

"But while we're holed up down here," Genma returned, "our enemies could be gathering like carrion crows. If we wait too long we'll walk right into an ambush!"

"That's something we'll just have to trust Danzou on," Kakashi said, his voice hard. "Presumably his primary concern is village security. It's likely that he's even been in contact with some of our allies to ensure that the village has adequate protection until it's stabilized."

"Or not," Yamato said fairly. "Danzou's rather paranoid and has never been a big supporter of village allegiances; he doesn't trust other countries."

Kakashi shrugged. "Time will tell, I guess." He sounded very tired. Genma couldn't see, but apparently Sakura was giving Kakashi a strange look; he raised his eyebrow at her.

"What?" he asked. "You're still not content? I told you, the elders aren't that big a deal right now..."

"It's fishy," she said. Her arms were crossed tightly across her chest. "ROOT is up to something."

"You know, Kakashi, I kind of agree with Sakura." All heads turned once again to Yamato. "Before the invasion, I had been assigned to track down Kabuto with Sai and Anko. When Pain hit, Sai and I had to return to the village, but Anko carried out the assignment on her own. Danzou sent two ROOT ops after her and they all returned with Kabuto's body. Yesterday Sai took me to see where they're keeping it, and it was a _completely_ different place. It wasn't all dirt like this is, and there were staircases and electricity. It was much better equipped for handling this huge amount of people."

"What?" Sakura shouted. Kakashi winced against the noise. "You mean this isn't even their headquarters?"

Kakashi looked around at the room. "Of course it's not," he said. "Who said it was?"

No one had a response. Genma had also been under the impression that this was headquarters.

"How do you know?" Sakura finally asked, still reeling.

"I've been there once," he said. His eye widened under the expectant scrutiny of the others. "It was pretty secret..."

Genma rolled his eyes. "Of course, we all forgot you were Special." The capital letter was clearly audible. "Why wouldn't they be letting us down there if they're not up to something?"

"They said they're going to be doing experiments on Anko," Yamato said quickly.

"Anko?" Sakura sounded confused. "The crazy exam proctor?"

A smile twitched at Kakashi's mouth. "Yes, that Anko," he told her. "And it's not that strange that they'd want to conduct experiments. Ten--" Yamato sent him a warning look, and he quickly amended. "Yamato, didn't you say that Kabuto had actually _absorbed _Orochimaru?" Yamato nodded.

"Well, there you go," Kakashi said, apparently satisfied. "Kabuto plus Anko equals one big chance to analyze a whole host of Orochimaru's experiments."

"Anko was Orochimaru's apprentice," Yamato reminded Sakura.

"Okay," Sakura said, "but why do all that now? We've already established that their biggest concern should be security. If Kabuto is dead, then it means that Orochimaru is _definitely_ dead. I just don't see any immediate threat."

Kakashi shrugged. "It _is_ suspicious," he said. He watched Sakura without really looking at her, thinking hard. Finally, he sighed, "Well, if you're really that curious, you should ask Sai to look into it."

Sakura hit her forehead lightly with her palm. "Of course!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"He might not be able to tell you much," Kakashi warned. "They have a seal, I think..."

Sakura shrugged. "He's told us stuff before, like his secret mission," she said, "so I'm not sure what you mean by that." She yawned slowly into her palm. "Next time I see him I'll ask him..."

Genma was utterly lost. "Sai?" he asked. "Secret mission? What the hell?"

"Sai is the codename of a ROOT member," Yamato explained. "He is the stand-in for Uchiha Sasuke on Team Kakashi."

"So he's one of Danzou's guys?" Genma remained very skeptical; he didn't trust anyone from ROOT. "How can you trust him?"

"He's my teammate," Sakura said fiercely. "He's loyal to us."

Genma raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" He once again tried to roll his tongue around something that wasn't there. _Damn, maybe I shouldn't have spit out my last senbon..._

Sakura turned her neck around to fix him with a glowering stare. "I'm absolutely sure."

He saw Kakashi shake his head silently behind her, and he wisely took the hint that this was a delicate topic. He decided not to test her conviction and merely shrugged. "If you say so."

Satisfied, Sakura turned back to her former teacher. "So I'll talk to Sai and we'll get you out there tomorrow, okay?"

"Mm-hm," Kakashi hummed. His eyelid dropped down over his eye. "Could you get me that glass of water? Then I think I'd like some more sedatives..."

"Sure."

Genma yawned widely, not bothering to cover his mouth. Sakura slipped off the bed, but Yamato tapped her elbow before she could leave. "Why don't you use that empty yogurt as a cup?" he suggested. "And then I can Suiton some water in there..."

Kakashi gave Yamato his deadliest glare. "Couldn't you have mentioned that earlier?" he rasped. Yamato could only manage an apologetic chuckle.

Genma pushed himself off the wall and grabbed the yogurt cup from its place atop a bulky machine. He wrinkled his nose in disgust at the unrefrigerated contents.

"This is going to be some nasty shit, Kakashi," he warned, handing the cup to the medic.

"I've had worse," Kakashi said weakly. Yamato made the signs and muttered the name of the justu, sending a jet of water into the cup. Genma's mouth watered at the clear stream, but once Yamato had finished, the water in the cup was not so clean. He snickered; old yogurt and Tenzou spit did not a happy ninja make.

However, Kakashi didn't complain; he greedily poured the water down his throat. His ferocity made Genma wonder if he had had a proper drink since he had woken up.

"Well, time to call it a night for me," Yamato said, groaning as he stood and put his weight back on his stiff leg.

Genma echoed his sentiment and together they moved to the door. As they left, he glanced over his shoulder at Sakura. For some reason she seemed nervous about administering the sedatives, smoothing down her skirt as she released the button.


	7. Chapter Six: The Inventory

I hope you this chapter is more fun to read than it was to write. I thank Lulu42 and Nimblnypmh for their help (they write KakaSaku stories, too; if you haven't read them, I would strongly recommend!), and the Killers and Regina Spektor because their music got me through this very difficult chapter. Oh, and don't believe them on the word count... They say 9509, Word says 8601. (facepalm)

* * *

Sakura shivered. The Cave was cold at night. Well, it was always cold when she wasn't moving through a crowd of sweaty people, but it felt particularly chilly when the torches were extinguished. She had no idea how Sai could stand having his abdomen freely exposed in such conditions.

"Do you need something?" A torch flickered to life as Sai lit it with a match, illuminating his eerily pale face. The warm light gave the illusion that his skin was of a healthier hue than it actually was.

Sakura pushed herself off the wall, rubbing her hands up and down her shoulders. "Yes. I need to ask you a favor."

After storing the spent match in a small pocket for no obvious reason, he turned to face her. "How may I assist you?" She saw him hesitate before trying out a smile.

Sighing, she said, "We — meaning Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou, and myself — think that something decidedly fishy is going on with Danzou."

Sai gave her a genuine frown. "I'm not sure I can help you," he said.

"Why not? You've helped us before." She crossed her arms.

Sai leaned forward; she shirked back a little, uncomfortable with their proximity. Once he had sufficiently invaded her personal space, he opened his mouth wide and stuck out his tongue.

Sakura's initial reaction to scream and push him away was chased away by the unusual markings she saw on his tongue. They were short black lines, starting in two stout legs but joining and crawling back beyond his tonsils. The symbol looked even more ominous in the light of the lone torch.

"It's a seal," he explained, straightening. "It forbids us to speak of him. If I try to talk about him, my whole body will be paralyzed and I'll be unable to talk or move."

"That's thorough..." Sakura whispered.

Sai nodded. "Not only does it guarantee that his secrets will be kept within Konoha itself, but in the event of interrogation we physically cannot give anything away."

Sakura tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, maybe you can still help us... We're concerned about why Danzou would waste resources right now investigating Orochimaru's experiments."

"Orochimaru?"

"Yeah," she answered. "He's apparently organizing massive tests to be done on Kabuto's body and Anko. Something about making sure his experiments lasted..."

Sai's frown frustrated Sakura. Could Sai know the exact reason but have no means of telling her? The more she thought about this mystery, the more it concerned her, and it would be a huge disappointment if Sai, her most promising asset, could be of no use.

Finally, he said, "I will see what I can do."

"Great!" Sakura exclaimed. "We were also wondering about what's become of the elders."

Sai nodded. "Okay, that too."

Sakura beamed at him. "Thanks, Sai!" She threw her arms around him in an appreciative hug before realizing just who it was she was hugging. Funny, he always looked like he had been carved out of marble, but he was surprisingly soft. Awkwardly, she withdrew her arms and stepped back.

"Well, um, thank you," she said. She turned to start leaving but stopped, heel twisted in halted motion. "Actually, could you do one more thing for me?"

Sai nodded. His eyes were very wide.

"I need some plastic cups for Kakashi-sensei," she explained. "And straws. He can't eat solid foods yet."

"Of course," Sai said. His pitch was slightly higher than usual. Writing it off as yet another of Sai's eccentricities, Sakura gave him a short wave and left down the dark hall.

Sai rubbed his chin anxiously. He combed through his memory, pulling out all of the articles he had read on physical contact— specifically, hugs. As he continued his task of lighting the torches, he mulled over this new development in their relationship.

(...)

With her hands looped behind her back, Sakura ambled slowly down the medical wing. Sai had already lit the torches in this part of the Cave; people had already been awake for hours. Whereas in the hospital, the sound of people going about their business comforted her, here it felt unnatural and unnerving. This was simply not an atmosphere that encouraged well-being.

She slipped into the twenty-fifth room on the right. "Morning, Sensei," she chirped. He was sitting propped up against his thin excuse for a pillow. He cracked open his eye blearily to watch her as she walked over to her customary seat.

"How are you doing? Be honest," she added sharply.

He sighed loudly. "The painkillers help."

"What about besides your eye?" When there were more people around, it was easier to act like his missing eye didn't phase her, but when they were alone she was much more skittish.

"I still shake a lot," he said absently. It didn't sound like he was paying her much attention.

"Part of it may be an effect of all the drugs you're getting," she reasoned, biting back her annoyance at his listlessness. "I'm going to start taking you off of them."

"Which ones?" he asked.

She considered it, rubbing her cheek with her palm. "The painkillers will probably go first."

"Damn," he breathed.

"And you don't need the blood-replenishing medicine anymore."

"When will I be able to eat things normally?" He sounded frustrated.

Sakura frowned. "You'll need to do liquids for a few days before we work you back to solid food."

It was quiet as she slid off the chair to check the monitors. She grabbed a clipboard off of a machine; they were very unofficial notes, but she tried to make them as consistent and formal as possible. She compared his current data with what had been recorded, making small notes with an unreliable ballpoint pen. Finally, she said, "Well, it looks like you're going to make a _much_ faster recovery than normal."

He was looking to the side. "Great," he said, his voice devoid of any enthusiasm.

Sakura bit her lip. Her fingers were wrapped around the top of the clipboard; she held it parallel to the ground, the bottom digging into her stomach. A little cautiously, she continued, "Your chakra will probably take longer than everything else to recover. It hasn't had free reign over your body—"

"— In at least sixteen years," he finished flatly. "I know."

It couldn't be more clear that he was not happy about this conversation, but Sakura only hesitated a little before plowing forward once more. "From a medical standpoint, you are actually healthier now..."

Kakashi closed his eye. "That," he said, "is certainly one way to look at it."

Sighing sadly, she said, "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I'm just trying to cheer you up..."

He gave her a smile so fake it made her optimism curdle at the pit of her stomach.

She frowned at him. "Don't do that." His smile vanished. "It only makes things worse. I'm not a little girl and it won't work on me anymore to pretend that everything's fine."

He was stonily silent. She bit her lip again; "I know the eye was really important to—"

"Stop," he cut in coarsely. She looked at him in surprise; his face was twisted in a pained grimace. It took her aback to catch a small glimpse of the emotional pain Kakashi must have been going through. In retrospect, she admonished herself slightly for not fully comprehending how difficult it must have been for him to listen to that. Clearly, it was not comforting to him to talk about the eye in solely professional terms— but what would comfort him? Sakura had no idea.

A pregnant pause hung low in the air. Kakashi shook his head a little, finally looking back at her. "Can you help me up?"

Sakura frowned in disapproval. "Kakashi—"

"Just help me up, hm?" They exchanged a hard, tense look, but she complied with a reluctant sigh.

(...)

Kakashi hobbled along after Sakura, leaning heavily into his crutches. He watched her sadly as she led him through the narrow, winding tunnels of the Cave. He knew that earlier, she had just been trying to help. It just seemed so strange; Sakura had always occupied a completely different world than his personal troubles.

He shivered. He had been provided with new clothes, as his own had been bloody and torn: a pair of standard issue pants that were too loose and a shirt that was too small. It was uncomfortably tight, and if he were to lift his arms, it would have exposed his stomach.

As she led him through the maze, his instinct was to memorize the layout with his Sharingan. He let out a "tch" of frustration when his body could not respond.

Sakura glanced back at him; he almost gave her a fake smile, but remembered her words and twitched his mouth in an attempt at an actual smile. Apparently, this did not satisfy her, and she turned around with a disconcerted frown. Her eyes searched his face critically; a little bemused, he stopped and waited. He was slightly uncomfortable with how close she was, although it was nothing compared to how embarrassed he felt when she was sitting in his bed yesterday.

His eye followed the movement of her hand as she reached down to the hem of her shirt. He could sense the spurt of chakra she sent to her fingers as she ripped along the bottom. Her hand weaved around her body as she tore off a thick strip of the dirty red cloth. Standing on her tiptoes, she reached behind his head to wrap the cloth around the lower half of his face.

Kakashi was absolutely paralyzed; his eye flitted nervously to the side, and he stared resolutely at the craggy ceiling. She tied a firm knot at the base of his neck before stepping back to admire her work.

His eye reluctantly swung back to Sakura. Her midriff was exposed, with the fabric sloping down to leave only an inch or so of her back uncovered.

"That's better," she said with a smile. Kakashi weakly returned it, belatedly realizing that she couldn't have seen it. She turned around with a little bounce and continued down the path.

As they walked on, he felt utterly lost. He was trying to commit the passageways to memory, but he was distracted. He kept catching little glimpses of people huddled in little pockets tucked into the walls, trickling off the main path into roughly hewn tributaries. Many recognized him, and he felt his neck burn a little as their stares invariably swiveled to his bandages. He did not normally react this way to public scrutiny — how many times had he ambled through busy public roads, adult literature in hand? — but this was uncomfortably reminiscent of the last time people whispered about his left eye. Even worse, it reminded him of how the village ostracized him after his father's blunder. Kakashi was not one to care much about reputation, but he couldn't help but feel a little worried about how his skills would be weighed without the Sharingan.

They stepped into a wide cavern. It was bustling with loosely organized activity; people rushed back and forth, running between tables and trying to marshal small herds of people in every direction.

"Seems... busy," Kakashi mused. Sakura gave him a quick smile over her shoulder.

"You should go see Shikamaru," she suggested, indicating his location with the point of her finger. Kakashi followed it, spotting the black-haired chuunin cradling his forehead with a hand as he hunched over scattered papers. He started moving towards him, but the downward slope was a little too difficult for him to handle. He was still far too weak for his liking, and probably should have been resting, but he could not _stand_ hospitals, even makeshift ones.

"Sakura..."

Noticing the worry and frustration in his voice, Sakura hurried to his side. She steadied him as they made their way together down the rough dirt floor, holding onto him until they reached Shikamaru's table.

"How is the _Inventory_ coming along?" she drawled, punctuating either side of the emphasized word with mocking movements of her fingers. Both she and Shikamaru rolled their eyes at the same time.

Shikamaru laughed. "It's been tough." _Was I feeling tired?_ Kakashi wondered. It was nothing compared to how Shikamaru looked, his face pale and drawn, with black shadows underlining his weary eyes.

"You're doing an inventory?" he asked.

Sakura sighed. "It's our list of people who are known to be alive," she explained, although he already knew the term from his time in ANBU. "The ANBU have so compassionately dubbed it the Inventory."

"It's not going so well," Shikamaru said, his worn thin with exasperation. "There are a couple of different lists that ANBU has been keeping, but they have some conflicting information. Apparently, some civilians have been lying to the genin that ANBU has been asking to keep the records— they're afraid that they won't be given priority unless they pretend to be shinobi." He rolled his shoulders, sighing with satisfaction as they popped. "But ANBU won't listen when we try to get them to just give the job to me."

"Hmm..." Kakashi looked around. He noticed Naruto and Chouji working with Ayame to sort some food into piles on a table that appeared to have just been created, if the panting Yamato slumping against it was any indication. Smiling in sympathy for his poor kohai, he waved down a passing ANBU. The man walked over, nodding respectfully when he reached Kakashi.

"Can I help you, Hatake-sempai?"

Kakashi nodded. "I'd like to speak to the operative in charge of the Inventory." Sakura gave him a worried look, but he waved off the hand she offered to help him. If he was going to exercise any authority over this operative, he was going to have to look even the smallest bit intimidating. His guess was that it was some underling, excited to be in any position of power, but he was surprised when the man led him to Uzuki Yuugao. She had evidently lost her mask and had long purple her hair drawn back. Her voice jumped with aggravation as she scolded a group of very frightened genin. Reaching forward, Kakashi casually intercepted the list she was waving around.

"These genin should go and help Naruto," he suggested airily. More than willing to escape Yuugao's wrath, they scampered.

Yuugao looked extremely annoyed, frowning at Kakashi. "With all due respect, sempai—"

Kakashi shook his head seriously. "No, those genin were clearly not suited for the job. Why don't we put this in more able hands?"

She rubbed her face with her hands in frustration. "If you mean those chuunin, they've been bothering me all day and think that they can just—"

"Absolutely I mean those chuunin." He leveled her with a hard look. "They're two of the most brilliant people in Konoha—"

"You mean the Cave," she muttered bitterly.

"_Enough_." He leaned forward imposingly on his crutch. "Shikamaru is perfectly able to handle this. You should go help Tenzou."

"And do what?" Her tone was not cheeky, but curious.

He sighed. "Naruto!" Naruto looked over, a few grains of rice falling absently from his mouth. This immediately annoyed Kakashi; it was a state of emergency, and one didn't let any grains go to waste. Then he remembered, of course, that Naruto had only ever lived in times of peace... He would settle for some gentle chastisement.

He beckoned Naruto over with a wave of the hand; Naruto quickly made his way over there. "Don't let rice fall out of your mouth," Kakashi scolded. Naruto self-consciously wiped at his mouth. "Could you please get everyone's attention for me?"

Oh, and Naruto did. Luckily, Kakashi had covered his ear beforehand, but Yuugao was not so lucky. Needless to say, everyone was looking his way very quickly, shaken by the loud noise that had erupted from the depths of Naruto's person.

"Okay, now that I have everyone's attention..." Kakashi cleared his throat. "This chaos is no longer acceptable. Things are going to get organized around here. I would like Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, and anyone left from Intel to come over here."

A dozen accompanied Shikamaru and Sakura over to Yuugao's table. "Okay, listen up," Kakashi said, rubbing his cheek. The impromptu mask was uncomfortable against the prickly layer of hair on his skin. _Ugh, stubble... Sakura's been seeing a grizzly face this entire time? That's too bad..._ "All right, you're all intelligent people, and I'd like you to start delegating. Find out what needs to be done and who's best for the job. And that should be documented on paper so that we make sure everything gets done."

One of the women from Intel laughed. "We can certainly delegate!" A few of the others managed smiles. Kakashi figured it would be good to get them doing their job again: Chaos was their realm, where they could fire up their neurons and introduce method to the madness. All they needed was a little push in the right direction and some clean paper.

And there was certainly a lot they needed to organize. Food organization was already being tackled, and it seemed that the Akimichis would be able to oversee that operation, which was largely being handled by the civilians who owned restaurants in the city. They cooked in shifts, using Fire and Water ninjutsu to prepare the food. The medical system was also being taken care of by the many medics who had made it underground. That left a hundred little problems and several very large ones that all needed to be dealt with.

Their most pressing issue was sanitation. Up until now, people had been dealing with what little options there were, but Kakashi would not stand to let that continue. Sakura, Ino, and a few spare medics had already started going through food and making sure it was safe for human consumption. Hygiene, however, was another issues entirely; not necessarily for the sake of comfort, but because they were in perfect conditions to spread disease. Kakashi rounded up as many shinobi skilled in Earth and Water ninjutsu to create little pools in empty hollows where people could wash themselves, and certain areas were designated for... less savory activities.

Under the direction of a few medics, genin were largely put in charge of that territory. (Even in a state of emergency, they were given the worst jobs.) Chuunin got a slight upgrade; they were given the responsibility of organizing bed space. There were four large bunk rooms, courtesy of ROOT, and priority was given to the elderly. After that, there was a very messy tangle of people claiming rights to a bed over one another, and it was left to the chuunin to sort through it. Hoping to avoid the civilian versus shinobi debate, Kakashi declared that rank would have nothing to do with placement; people on either side disagreed vehemently at first, but Kakashi put his foot down and no one dared challenge it when he made it clear that there were more important things than their squabbles.

As if the unwanted opinions of the adults were not enough, there was a plethora of small children running rampant through the Cave. However, it was easy to decide who should be put in charge, and Kakashi tried not to smile too sadistically when he told Iruka that there was a very large pool of young minds just waiting for his noble direction. Knees weak with the heavy responsibility, Iruka had nevertheless shouldered it, rounding up other Academy teachers to help him keep watch over the children. Kakashi was forever mystified by his ability to hush their screeches and wails.

Animals, too, needed to be taken care of, and the Inzukas were more than willing to take up the task. Hana was able to care for any that had been wounded in the attack; until then, medical attention had been reserved for the many injured humans. The canine companions of the Inuzuka family were given a different task, however. Along with Naruto, they were sent out to find people who might be storing food. The wolves sniffed out the food, and Naruto coaxed any stubborn hoarders into sharing. He had a knack for convincing people to do things for the good of others.

There was also a small but incredibly important population of pregnant women in the Cave. Most were in the medical wing, but Kakashi gave Kurenai and several other kunoichi jurisdiction over their care. In case of medical or food shortages, they were to be given top priority. Even if Konoha had not lost so many people, Kakashi felt it imperative that these women be given the best care available.

Kakashi's poor, exhausted kohai was assigned the construction of any extra wooden objects that were necessary. This was mostly limited to small accessories; Tenzou was exhausted, and his talents would be in high demand once they got aboveground again. For the most part, he was actually instructed to rest— too much activity would result in a personalized warning from his _dearest_ sempai. Needless to say, Tenzou heeded his orders.

Izumo and Kotetsu were unrivaled in their skill for recognizing faces. Having served as the personal assistants of two Hokages, they were accustomed to desk duty; this made them the perfect choices to ration food. Even before they got lists to check off with, they were able to rely on memory alone to make sure that no one sneaked back for extra food. There were a few ANBU and jounin assigned to help them, but their mastery was clear.

Several other jounin were given the delicate job of communicating with ROOT. While they had a good stock of food now that they were bringing everything together, they could not last on it forever, and they needed more rations from the ones technically in charge. Kakashi would have put ANBU in charge of that, as the ROOT would have a modicum of extra respect for them, but the respect would not go both ways and Kakashi wanted to avoid direct conflict between the two groups as much as possible. The ANBU would have probably followed Kakashi's orders regardless of their animosity towards Danzou's lackeys, but there was enough tension in the Cave as it was. No, many ANBU (such as Yuugao) were put in charge of delegating within smaller groups, taking charge over a small group of genin or jounin. Others were sent out to explore the Cave, compiling a map. Both ANBU and jounin were stationed throughout the Cave to give directions to the mess hall, the medical wing, and sleeping quarters.

As for Kakashi himself, he kept Shikamaru with him for the Inventory. They threw out all of the old attempts and started afresh, sitting at the table next to Izumo and Kotesu's and keeping track of everyone who entered the mess hall. Everyone was required to provide name, rank, and one of five age groups; 0-9, 10-14, 15-40, 41-50, or 50 and older. When the information had been recorded, Kakashi copied it onto a sheet to be given to Izumo and Kotetsu for their registry.

Kakashi sighed, scratching at the edges of his bandages. He knew he wasn't supposed to do that, but it was horribly itchy; he was probably due for a change soon, but both he and Sakura had been so busy.

"Hey, Shikamaru! Oh, and Kakashi-sensei!"

Ah, a welcome distraction. Kakashi smiled as he saw Chouji approaching the table.

"Having fun, Shika?" Chouji chortled. Shikamaru emitted a noncommittal grunt from where he was slumped over papers. Patting him on the shoulder, Chouji pulled something out of his pocket. A light blush dusted his painted cheeks as he offered the granola bar to Kakashi.

"Uh, here you go, Sensei," he said. Kakashi gratefully accepted it, nodding it in thanks.

"Thanks, Chouji," he said, but his gratitude to him was deeper than just the food offering. "And for earlier, too..."

Chouji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "No problem!" he said cheerfully. "I mean, if you hadn't..." He swallowed, his smile fading. "Well, let's just say I wouldn't be here right now." He nodded at Kakashi seriously before clapping Shikamaru on the shoulder again. "Keep up the good work, Shika!" He laughed at Shikamaru's unintelligible murmurings before walking away.

"Not funny..." Shikamaru muttered, sitting up again. "We still need to get somebody to find people who don't have food."

"Eh, weren't the Inuzukas doing that?" Kakashi raked his fingers through his greasy spikes of silver hair, wishing he didn't feel so grimy.

Shikamaru shook his head. "No, they're finding people who _do_ have food."

"Oh," Kakashi said. He fought back a yawn. "That's all right, I'll summon my dogs." He raised his thumb to his cloth-covered lips and bit down, drawing just enough blood for the summoning contract. He moved his hands in the familiar seals, bringing forth several dogs in a great puff of smoke. It left him feeling a little dizzy, and he realized that this was the first jutsu he had done since his fight with Pain.

He could tell that the dogs immediately noticed something different about their master, but he gave Pakkun a stern jerk of the head to indicate that they were not to ask any questions right now.

"I want you to find all the living people who do not smell of food," Kakashi ordered. "Others are taking care of finding people with food, but I want you to focus on the hungry ones."

Still looking grave with concern, Pakkun nevertheless obeyed his master's obvious wish not to question his condition. He gave a gruff nod of understanding, and the pack turned around to carry out their orders.

As Kakashi watched them leave, someone snatched the granola bar out of his hand.

He frowned at Sakura, who was waving it at him disapprovingly. "No solid food for you," she said, before taking a hearty bite out of it.

"That's not just fair."

She handed him a covered plastic cup. "Sai dropped the cup off for me," she explained. "And there are plenty more. They're full of nourishing liquids, so you should drink up."

"Yes, ma'am." He took a sip, grimacing against the straw.

Sakura suddenly frowned. "Show me your thumb," she demanded.

He really would have rather not, but he was far too tired to try to fight her righteous glower. Reluctantly, he offered his thumb up for her inspection. She scowled at the fresh wound there.

"We needed his dogs," Shikamaru sighed.

Sakura crossed her arms. "No more jutsu until I say so," she huffed angrily.

Kakashi shrugged. Shikamaru sighed loudly, rubbing the ache in his neck. "Hey, Sakura... could you do us a huge favor?" She turned expectantly. "We need someone to account for all of the people in the medical wing who can't check into the mess hall."

Her frown was deep; she was not pleased. "Kakashi already asked me to oversee food sanitation," she said. "Plus I should still really be helping to heal people."

"I know," Shikamaru breathed, "but the first time will be all the hard work— then you'll just have to update the list periodically."

Sakura's nostrils flared. Kakashi was confused at the extent of her anger, but then he quickly realized that Sakura would not like the idea of checking up on people to see if any had died since yesterday.

"Just think of it like doing your rounds at the hospital," he said quietly. He had hoped that would calm her, but it only seemed to stir her ire. She snatched a clipboard off the table and tore off.

Shikamaru pressed his fingertips to his eyes. "Women," he groaned quietly. "I will never understand them."

"At least this way, she'll be able to slip in some medical help while she goes through... it won't be as bad as she thinks it will be," Kakashi sighed.

(...)

Sakura walked tiredly down the hall, trying not to drag her feet. In every other room she visited, the medical methods were in need of some tweaking, so Sakura was ending up spending a lot of time helping individual patients.

She moved into the next room. A woman lay in the bed, her protuberant belly curving smoothly. She was squeezing the hand of a man who sat on a sagging cardboard box.

Sakura approached them with a smile. "Hi, I'm Sakura," she said brightly. Expecting couples never failed to improve her mood. The two turned to look at her. "I'm doing a kind of census..." She let out a little laugh. The couple smiled weakly. "What are your names?"

"Toriyama Hiromi," the woman answered. She had a voice like velvet and deep purple eyes. "I'm a chuunin. This is my husband, Matsu."

"Civilian," Matsu said with a grimace.

Sakura scribbled a circle with the ballpoint pen until the ink ran right and jotted down Hiromi's information, adding a little note about the condition she was admitted for.

"How far along are you?" she asked, looking up momentarily from her clipboard.

Both parents beamed, although Sakura saw that they were incredibly nervous under their happiness. She couldn't blame them; it would be very unsettling to be expecting a child when the village was in this state. "Thirty-two weeks."

Thankfully, the room had the right machines, even if they were outdated. Matsu noticed her looking at them, and he leaned forward eagerly. "The shinobi who work for Danzou brought these in for us," he said proudly.

Sakura found this very interesting. _It seems the old man isn't completely heartless._ She conducted several routine tests, finding that everything was in order. When she had finished, she moved for the exit, but stopped as she remembered the other part of her duty.

"There's a mess hall now," she explained, twisting at the waist to face them. She specifically addressed Matsu because he would undoubtedly be the one running errands for her. "There should be jounin stationed around the Cave to tell you how to get there. Right now, Hiromi is down on the patient registry, but Matsu will have to register in the mess hall."

"Thank you." They said it in unison, which Sakura found very cute. She left the room. She slipped a kunai out of the holster she had managed to procure and carved the number _21_ into the wall. She had taken it upon herself to mark the rooms and wrote "21" on her clipboard next to Hiromi's name before continuing down the passageway.

(...)

Kakashi rested his elbow on the table, massing his eye. He was long since accustomed to the skewed perception of using one eye and knew how to mentally compensate, but he was exhausted and there was a terrible throbbing behind his bandages.

The familiar scuffling of dog feet made him splay his fingers and peer through the cracks. Bull and Bisuke were bringing in another group of people. The two dogs were a good team because Bisuke was friendly and could appeal to hungry people, but Bull could intimidate any stubborn or mistrustful ones. It was also helpful that many people recognized the henohenomoheji decorating their backs.

The dogs guided the group over to the table. Kakashi was sad to see how hungry they looked; it was a group of young people, civilians. "Write your name, rank, and age group on this sheet," he told them in a scratchy voice.

"Rank...?"

"Just put 'civilian'." As they wrote, Kakashi copied the list and handed it to Shikamaru on his right, who passed it to Kotetsu at the next table over.

Kakashi did not have the ability to automatically copy anymore— something he realized with a pang of sadness that he would sorely miss. One of of his major strategies was to use the opponents' techniques against them. In fact, the Sharingan was a central focus of nearly all of his strategies. He had always planned alternate courses of action in the event that his eye was compromised, but those were only back-up plans... This was going to mean a complete re-structuring of his battle plans. He had always been a brilliant shinobi, but the Sharingan had become the cornerstone of his arsenal. Now, there would be no more instantly copying techniques or easily anticipating enemy movements.

He could still remember techniques he had already copied, but it occurred to him that once things were stable, he might want to write them down so that he didn't forget them. And what about Raikiri? He had invented it without the Sharingan, but it hadn't been complete then because he was moving too quickly to anticipate the enemy's counterattack.

A snap of fingers broke his thoughts. Frowning, he looked up in surprise to see Sakura. She looked exhausted.

"You look exhausted," she told him.

"Hmm, so do you."

Sakura scowled. "It's because I have spent my entire day doing your _medical inventory_."

He took the list from her. "You don't like that term?"

She cocked a brow in incredulity. "It makes it sound like we're dealing with objects and numbers, not people."

Kakashi's frown deepened. "I've never thought about it that way."

Sakura did not look impressed. "Really Sensei, I thought you were a little more human," she said dryly.

His frown twitched in annoyance at that comment. "ANBU has always called it that, it's just the way they run things."

"Well, we should change it," she retorted.

He shook his head. "No, it's really not that important... Just let them have their way."

She exhaled righteously through her nose. "It's the principle of the thing, Sensei."

"You need to pick your battles, Sakura."

"Besides," Shikamaru added, "we want ANBU on our side."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "Side?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, we don't want them supporting Danzou in the long run, do we?"

Kakashi laughed, and it grated against his throat as if rusty from disuse. "There will be snow in Suna before that happens. ANBU hates ROOT."

"Really?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well, when you think about it, ANBU answers directly to the Hokage." He noticed a hastily hidden flash of pain splash across Sakura's features. "Whereas ROOT is a direct rejection of that, ignoring the Hokage's authority in favor of Danzou's— sometimes going directly against the Hokage's wishes. The ANBU consider this tantamount to treason and were the biggest supporters of shutting ROOT down. Of course, Danzou had far too much influence to let it become defunct, so the animosity has only festered."

Shikamaru rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, all the more important we don't offend them. They could be powerful allies."

"It's not like we're waging war on Danzou," Kakashi said uncomfortably. He shifted a little in his chair, trying to ease the pain in his leg. The last thing they needed was Danzou as an actual enemy. "Oh! Sakura, have you talked to Sai?"

Her ire seemed to have cooled somewhat, but was still irritable as she snapped, "Yes, remember, he got the plastic cups with the covers and even the straws."

"Yes, I know that Sai dropped them off," he said, even though he secretly had forgotten. "But has he given you any news?"

"How could he, I've been kept busy all day with the _Inventory_."

"Enough, Sakura." Kakashi's voice was short and angry; his patience had run out. "You're not the only one who feels tired and overworked, and no one could have done the very important job you performed for us, so would you please lay off me a little?"

A blush crept up the back of her neck in embarrassment. Her face fell and she walked around the table to slip dejectedly into the chair on his left.

"Sorry, Sensei..."

He sighed and patted her on the back, rubbing along shoulders in an effort to soothe her.

"I know," he said quietly. "It's been a very long day."

She looked up and could see that he was wearily eyeing a chuunin who was indiscretely ogling his bandages. Sakura's shoulders tensed underneath his hand.

"Have you already signed the registry?" Kakashi asked the chuunin coolly. She looked startled at being addressed by him, her eyes wide. "Uh, y-yes, I have," she stammered.

"Please leave, then, because you're blocking the table for others," he said. "If you need something to do, you should talk to Yuugao, the woman with the purple hair in the ANBU uniform." The chuunin nodded and hurriedly made her escape.

Sakura straightened up and Kakashi lifted off his hand, returning it to its frequent post at the bridge of his nose.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

He rubbed his forehead. "Okay," he lied.

Her sigh indicated that she did not believe him. She raised her hand and moved it towards his head. He could feel her chakra tickling the edges of his senses, promising relief from the ache, but he shook his head. "No, save your energy," he croaked.

She sighed again and stood up. "I'm going to go help Ino sanitize the food."

"Wow," Shikamaru laughed. "I'm surprised Ino is willing to do that."

Sakura laughed too. "Ino says that like it or not, her experience with Chouji has taught her a lot about food." Mirth still holding the smile to her face, she turned away and left. Kakashi was pleased that he had gotten to see her smile after all of the angry frowns.

Shikamaru pushed some of the papers into a weak imitation of a stack. He yawned widely. "I'm gonna go visit Kurenai."

"Give her my regards," Kakashi said, moving the papers towards him. Shikamaru left, and he started sifting through the sheets, trying to organize all of the lists and charts. Besides the registry, they had informal reports and lists about other tasks people were performing. He leaned to the right, tapping Kotetsu on the shoulder.

"Please compare these papers to Yuugao's," he said.

"Yessir." Kotetsu scraped back his chair and left, scooping up the papers as he went. Izumo gave Kakashi a weak, nervous smile; Kakashi looked away.

Genma was standing in front of his desk. Bags cradled his bloodshot eyes, and his entire body seemed to be sagging with fatigue. His mouth worked in absent little circles around a non-existent senbon.

"Have you been getting _any_ sleep?" Kakashi asked with concern.

"Have you?"

Kakashi smiled. "The wonderful world of sedatives."

"Yes," Genma said shortly. "It must be nice having a personal medic at your beck and call."

Kakashi caught the bitter reference but chose not to acknowledge it for Genma's sake. He shook his head, saying, "Now that I'm stable, she's been very busy."

Genma sighed. "Yeah... I've seen her flying around with a clipboard, hopping from patient to patient."

"Yes, we've put her in charge of medical inventory." Immediately after the word left his mouth, he rethought it, but Genma had also been in ANBU and was clearly distracted, so he took no notice.

Genma frowned. "Aren't you giving her an awful lot of responsibility?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Shrugging, Genma elaborated. "Eh, she's just a chuunin, a sixteen-year-old girl..."

Calmly, Kakashi replied, "When I was sixteen, I was your ANBU captain."

Genma shrugged again. "I guess she was the Hokage's apprentice..."

With a nod, Kakashi said, "Yes, plus she's also a brilliant medic, powerful fighter, and compassionate teammate."

Genma grinned, holding his hands up in admission. "All right, all right, I get it..." His smile faded. "This isn't really the reason I came to talk to you, though."

Kakashi shifted a little in his seat. Genma sighed, untying his bandana and running a hand through his limp brown hair. "I've noticed you're doing this Inventory, and I think you should expand it."

"We're already pretty swamped here, Genma." Kakashi frowned at him.

"Well, I think you should keep track of the confirmed dead."

Kakashi exhaled slowly, leaning back in his chair and massaging his aching forehead. "Well... probably wouldn't do much for morale..."

Genma drummed his fingers impatiently on the table. "To be honest, I don't give a horse's shit about morale right now," he said. "Your job is to make sure _everyone's_ accounted for."

"Well, we'll consider it," Kakashi replied. "But there are a lot of other things we need to be working on."

A scowl curled Genma's lip. "Oh come on, Kakashi," he spat. "You know exactly how this is."

"And you know exactly how _this_ is, Genma." Kakashi's voice was thin and a little annoyed. "People aren't likely to forget who's died, so it's not the top priority to get it written down."

Genma retorted, "You say it'd be bad for morale, but think of people it could reunite— people who thought their relatives were dead might really just be a little lost in the Cave."

"Or just missing."

"Dammit, why are you being so difficult, Kakashi?" His voice had risen to half a shout, and it cracked with frustration. "You _know_ what I'm going through right now."

"I'll see what I can do," Kakashi said dully. Genma sighed loudly in aggravation and left.

Kakashi groaned. He folded his arms on the table and buried his face in them. His skin was so dry, and it itched against the cloth of his mask. This was just one more thing to worry about, and it weighed more heavily on him than any of the others. He didn't want to ask people how many of their relatives they thought were dead, or how many corpses they had definitively identified on the way down.

Besides, how much chaos might ensue if the Hokage were declared officially dead? People had been going off of the assumption that she was incapacitated, and her true condition was not a secret, so by now the truth was spreading, but a formal declaration might create a commotion.

_Or would it?_ he wondered. Maybe making it official would actually help to establish more order— but that would mean creating a leader to replace her. _Well, Danzou is the leader, isn't he? At least, he's making himself the leader..._ The others, Sakura especially, did not think Danzou was doing much at all, but Kakashi was not as critical. He had gotten them this facility, which wasn't great, but it was better than no facility at all. Furthermore, he was presumably securing the village.

On the other hand, Danzou could really have been a lot more helpful underground. If he wanted to be their leader so badly, shouldn't he have been visibly taking charge of people? But then again, apparently a lot of people were happy with him. The only ones who weren't, really, were those who knew about ROOT.

His musings were interrupted by the return of Shikamaru.

"Kurenai's doing okay," he told Kakashi, smiling slightly as he sat in his chair. "Couldn't talk to her long because she's pretty busy, though."

Kakashi grunted. He shifted so that he was peering at Shikamaru over the top of his arm. "You don't seem to have gotten much work done," Shikamaru remarked.

Completely ignoring what he considered to be a pretty snide comment, he instead wondered why Shikamaru hadn't seemd to react to his missing eye. Plenty of people had stared, but Shikamaru's gaze never lingered on the bandages.

_Oh, don't be so conceited._ His inner voice was so cold. It was funny; if Obito had said that, it would have come off as a joking admonishment, but now it made his skin crawl.

He missed Obito now more than ever.

Shikamaru lifted his eyebrows. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

"Nope," Kakashi said. His voice was muffled by his arm. "Genma was just here. He made a suggestion." He hoped the sadness he was feeling was disguised in his voice as fatigue.

Running a hand over his face, Shikamaru said, "What." It was technically a question, but he kept it flat at the end.

"He wants us to keep track of the confirmed dead," Kakashi told him.

Shikamaru was quiet in thought. Kakashi was in no rush for an answer. He pressed his face into his arm, inhaling deeply. All smells were overwhelmed by the ugly smell of sweat and dirt, but he thought he could make out a trace of Sakura's perfume clinging feebly to the fabric of his mask. Underneath that was the faint remnant of an unknown shinobi's smell. Kakashi felt a sick lurch in his stomach as he wondered who this shirt could be from.

_It doesn't have to be a dead person_, he reminded himself. _It could be someone's generously donated spare shirt. Sakura wouldn't have taken clothes off a cadaver._

"It would be kind of a hard list to compile," Shikamaru said finally.

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed gruffly.

Shikamaru continued, "And assuming we can get a reliable list, it might not be the best idea to announce it."

Kakashi thought about that. "Well, if we just kept the list up at the table, people would all clamor around it anyway once they got wind of its existence and location. We could try keeping it to ourselves..."

"No," Shikamaru said, giving a weary jerk of his head in disagreement. "That would never work— this is Konoha we're talking about."

Even though just the name of his home dragged his heart down his throat, Kakashi sat up. _I have to look strong_, he told himself. _I have to _be_ strong_.

"Well, it's all moot until we have an actual list— I'm not about to go asking around," he said firmly. "And we don't have any village records to compare our registry to, although hopefully once we hand the Inventory over to some people from Intel, they'll be able to give us an estimate on numbers."

Wearily, Shikamaru suggested, "Well, maybe people can give us names of those they think might be missing. We could compare those names to the lists, helping reunite any lost people, and otherwise giving us places to start when we get aboveground."

Aboveground... Kakashi couldn't even think about that now. There was still too much to do down here. "Okay, tell Izumo to start telling people that when they come to get their rations."

(...)

Sai fell in step one pace behind Danzou.

"The village is secure," the older man said. His cane filled the silences with its even beat against the wooden slats of the underground bridge. "It is not quite ready for the villagers to come back up, but I suspect that they are not ready, either."

"They have just begun to become more organized, sir," Sai told him.

"I suppose I cannot have expected any better," Danzou replied. "This will probably work well, at any rate. By the time they're ready to go up, it will be safe for them. And thanks to our efforts, they will not have to worry about attack from other villages while they are vulnerable."

"The other villages remain unaware?"

"Yes. We have managed to keep other villages from finding out about our situation." A small smirk tugged at Danzou's lips. "In fact, no one else in Fire Country does."

"Even the villages within a nearby radius?"

Danzou nodded. "Any who witnessed it have been silenced."

Sai felt a chill jitter down his spine. Was this fear? "Would you like to know about the operations upstairs, sir?"

"Yes, Sai, go on." The old man slowed, and Sai followed suit, never putting a toe past Danzou's.

"Several shinobi have taken charge, and they have set it up so that shinobi of higher rank are delegating tasks to those below them," Sai explained. He was careful to keep his voice toneless, although it felt bizarre to have to keep emotion out— he used to struggle to keep it in in order to give his words authenticity. Now, he had to remind himself that around Danzou, he was to use no inflection or facial expression. "There are people taking care of food, sanitation, and medical care."

"Any prominent names worth mentioning?"

"Well, many of the people in charge of delegating are either ANBU or Intel," Sai answered, after a moment of thought. "Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu are in charge of giving out food rations. However, those truly running things are Nara Shikamaru and, of course, Hatake Kakashi-san."

Danzou stopped walking; Sai came to a smooth halt behind him. "Hatake Kakashi? That's interesting..." Sai could not see his face from his angle. "And what of Uzumaki Naruto?"

"He is finding people with no food and bringing them to the mess hall they have organized," Sai answered.

"Not rallying support?" Sai shook his head. Danzou nodded in gruff approval. "Well, that's fine with me. Some of them have approached us with supplies, but there is only so much I can spare, especially as far as manpower is concerned. Hopefully they will make do with what we can give them." He was quiet a moment before asking, "What exactly is Hatake doing?"

"He and Shikamaru are performing Inventory." ROOT used that term even more appropriately than ANBU did. "Actually, sir, they could probably use your help."

"Oh?"

"They are conducting a missing persons list," Sai elaborated. "However, they do not have the proper resources to go about doing it."

"Give them our list," Danzou responded. "It'll save time." He leaned his head back and whistled; the sound ricocheted off of the great pillars plunging down into the depths of headquarters, and immediately a cloaked operative had quietly appeared, dark smoke billowing around him in wispy clouds.

Danzou held out his hand expectantly. "The envelope," he said lightly. The operative silently slipped it out from underneath his cloak and handed it to Danzou. The elder man nodded in dismissal, and he passed the envelope to Sai through the smoke cloud of the other operative's disappearance.

"Give this to Hatake Kakashi," he instructed. "You can also deliver periodic updates to them, as well as those you will give me about the operations in the Cave."

"Yes, sir." Sai accepted the envelope.

(...)

Kakashi felt rather silly as he sucked absently on his thumb, but dirt had gotten into the cut he had made earlier, and it was stinging dully. Sakura had looked at it for any infection, but despite her assurance that it was fine she could do nothing about the stinging. Her chakra was far too precious.

It was now what Kakashi assumed to be night. Even if aboveground it was high noon, it was the time that most people in the Cave had designated for sleeping. Kakashi was dearly hoping to retire soon, although he had no idea where he was going to sleep. For now, he was clinging to the last ebbs of consciousness, talking idly with Sakura as she sat beside him.

"We match."

Sakura looked quizzically at Sai, who had just appeared in front of them. She was confused by his question. "What?"

Sai's gaze dropped down to her stomach— Sakura's face flushed. "Oh, I tore it off."

Nodding, Sai said, "This is obvious." She rolled her eyes, yawning into her hand. "I see that Kakashi-san is now wearing it as a mask."

Kakashi smiled. "What's in the envelope there, Sai?"

Sai wordlessly handed it across the table. "Danzou thought this might be of use to you," he said while Kakashi unclasped the top and slid out a sheet of paper.

Thick red kanji glared at him from the top of the page, spelling out the words "Confirmed Dead". He stared at it for a good minute. The manila envelope was thick. Did they have information on each person, or were there really that many casualties?

"What is it?" Sakura asked. Despite her earlier signs of weariness, she was alert now.

Kakashi slipped the paper back down, fastening the envelope shut again. He shook his head at Sakura's question, addressing Sai instead. "What other news might you have?"

Sai hesitated before quietly summarizing what Danzou had told him. "The village is nearly secure, and no one else knows about our condition. Even surrounding towns have not let the word spread." He seemed to reflect briefly on this comment before continuing. "It does not sound like the remaining members of Akatsuki are making any more obvious attempts to attack soon— at least, Danzou probably would have mentioned it if they were."

"Good," Kakashi said. "It's a relief that Konoha will be secure soon..." He couldn't help but wondering, though, if it might be wise to alert their allies.

He shook his head at himself. _No, too much to worry about right now... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it._ "Thank you, Sai," he said softly.

Sai nodded, turning to Sakura before he left. "I will try to find out more about Orochimaru," he promised, and then he was gone.

Elbows resting on the table, Kakashi pressed his fists against his forehead. The cracked skin stretched across his knuckles, itchy against his sweaty forehead. Everything was itchy. He was so tired...


	8. Chapter Seven: Fatigue

This chapter took a really long time to get out... sorry! School has been very busy and stuff. (... Vague!) I would like to thank nimblnymph and lilith11 for helping me with this chapter!  


* * *

Worry curved her soft pink lips in a frown as Sakura watched Kakashi. He was slumped forward on the table, resting his head in his folded arms. She had rarely known Kakashi to show his stress, but today the exhaustion was plain. He had been working far too hard, especially for a man who couldn't eat solid foods. Watching him take authority had been a real marvel, but there was only so much one man could shoulder in so short a time.

"Okay, I think you've had enough for one day," she suggested.

Kakashi hesitated. "Well, there's still—"

She clamped a firm hand on his shoulder. "Don't you even _think_ about talking back to me. You shouldn't even be up and about today— you're putting way too much strain on yourself."

A dry chuckle emerged from the dirty heap that was her sensei. "Okay, okay, I'll go to bed..."

Sakura helped him to his feet. She had to refrain from making a face at the nasty smell she caught a whiff of when she brought his arm around her shoulder. "First, how about a wash?"

"A wash?" His voice crackled in excitement, and she giggled at his enthusiasm. He secured his crutch underneath his armpit and she guided him by the elbow out of the Mess Hall.

Kakashi visibly relaxed once they were away from all of the noise. _He must have a bad headache_, Sakura realized. _With all of this stress piled on top of his missing eye..._

A chill ran through her. Even though she had removed the eye herself and had seen the empty socket, it was difficult for her to fathom Kakashi without the Sharingan. It had been such a part of him— and of his strategy. Poor Kakashi... On top of dealing with the rebuilding of the village, he'd have to deal with his personal recovery and the restructuring of his entire technique and style to compensate for the loss of the Sharingan. As a medic, she was concerned that the burden would be too taxing for him to bear; as a friend, she was worried about the damage it would have on him.

"You did a good job," he said roughly. He turned his head, and his eye was a charcoal slit smiling at her. Warmth fluttered through her chest. She was touched that he had said that with no prompt.

"Thanks, you too."

Kakashi sighed. "Well, I just hope I can help."

Sakura thought that he was being very modest. She had been noticing that he seemed to be reluctant to accept too much of a leadership role in the Cave even though he was clearly well-suited for it. He had been very quick to assure people that he did not see himself as challenging Danzou's authority. He had always been so prudent.

They came to a fork and Sakura paused, glancing around. Tapping her chin thoughtfully, she wondered aloud, "Now, which way was it to the baths...?"

Kakashi frowned. "I haven't gotten a chance to study any maps yet." That was weird to Sakura; she was used to Kakashi having layouts memorized.

A chuunin stepped forward from where he had been leaning against the rough wall that split the paths. "Do you need directions?" he asked.

His most notable feature was that bandages wound around most of his head. Only the lower half of his face was exposed; Sakura thought it was a rather interesting contrast to Kakashi, who covered that area. She found the chuunin's appearance a little eerie and wondered how he functioned, all covered in bandages. _He must have a very interesting technique._

"Yes, thank you, Tobitake-san," Kakashi replied. Sakura was impressed that he knew the chuunin's name, but she supposed that he was a hard man to forget. "We need to find the baths."

Tobitake was silent for a few moments before saying, "Ah. Take the right path and continue down until a passageway about three men wide opens up to your right."

Kakashi nodded at him. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, Hatake-san."

Sakura led them down the right path. The torches were burning out, flickering in their mounts as the two shinobi followed the dank corridor. After a stretch of silence and uniformity, a sudden dip in shadow was revealed on their right. They turned down it. A jounin stationed at the entrance smiled and nodded respectfully as they went past.

"Are you in the right place?" he asked good-naturedly. "This is the way to the baths."

"Good, that's where we're headed," Sakura said, smiling.

Steam drifted towards them from a small offshoot of the passageway. Sakura found it stifling, but Kakashi sighed in relief. _I wonder if it helps to soothe his headache._

A younger shinobi of indeterminate rank emerged, wiping sweat from his brow with a grubby rag. Anxiety violently overtook his person as he recognized Kakashi; his back snapped into place and he nervously smoothed back his dark brown hair, slick with perspiration. "Hatake-san!"

His eager reaction led Sakura to believe that he was probably a chuunin. She couldn't imagine that he had ever met Kakashi before; he was so far removed from the younger ranks of shinobi these days. To her surprise, Kakashi seemed to vaguely recognize the boy, at least enough to put a name with a face, addressing him directly: "Hello, Ueda-san." Sakura was impressed by the breadth of Kakashi's knowledge when it came to the citizens of Konoha.

"Help him into the bath, please," Sakura instructed. "You can remove his leg bandages so that his legs can soak. Then as his medic I'll take it from there." Even though she had already helped dress Kakashi, it had been when he was unconscious— _completely_ different. Besides, Kurenai had been there to help her, and the older woman was much more worldly and therefore unembarrassed by being confronted with Hatake Kakashi's nudity.

"Okay!"

Kakashi seemed reluctant to trade Sakura's steady hand for the boy's. As he was led away with his back turned to Sakura, he said lightly, "Oh, so you're _my _medic now?" Sakura rolled her eyes, but her cheeks were a little pink in mild embarrassment.

She waited outside, reclining against the dirt wall and tapping her clipboard absently against her thigh. _She _was exhausted, too. Hopefully, helping Kakashi with his bath would be nice and relaxing. She thought that it probably would be, since helping a patient relax usually helped to ease her own stress.

Water gushed from within the bathroom, and Sakura closed her eyes as she imagined the water filling the hollowed dirt pools. In her mind, they were not roughly hewn indents but rather majestic bowls, scraped to smooth perfection and filled to the brim with soapy bubbles. She would watch the rainbow distortions stretch across the surface of the bubbles in the midst of the white foam, giggling with delight as she popped them with her finger...

A rush of steam hissed, and the boy called over it. "Okay, ma'am, you can come in!"

Sakura came in, taking in the new room. Only two torches cast the cramped space in a dim light tinted with the warm colors of fire. It fell a bit short of her imagination. A shallow pool was carved into the floor, and Kakashi had been gingerly situated so that he was sitting directly across from where Sakura stood in the doorway. He looked rather uncomfortable at the edge of the bath. The steam rose in murky clouds around his bare skin, which was covered in small scratches that Sakura hadn't had the energy to heal. He still had bandages on his chest and head.

"Be careful with that," he was telling the boy. "It's very important and contains confidential information." The boy obediently put the manila envelope by Kakashi's clothes. He looked a little winded from performing the jutsus to fill and heat the bath.

"There are some rags, a towel, and some soap over there," he told Sakura. "The Masks gave us the soap."

"Masks?"

The boy tugged at his collar. "Uh, well, that's what some of us call the guys in charge, you know?"

Sakura nodded, reminded that she was part of a small group that was aware that ROOT was still in existence. "Oh, okay."

He beamed. "I'll be around if you need anything!"

"Thank you." Sakura smiled after him as he left. She walked over to the pile of soap and cloth. It was tempting to ask Kakashi about the envelope, but this was supposed to be _relaxing._ Grabbing the supplies, she took a seat right behind him.

She winced; she could already see the dirt and even blood still caked in his hair.

"Let's start with your hair." She dipped the washcloth in the pool, careful not to look too hard at the water: She could make out the outline of Kakashi's leg and didn't want to see anything more. She brought the cloth to his head, wetting his greasy silver spikes.

He hummed happily as she scrubbed at his scalp, grunting every now and then when she ground the soap particularly hard. Occasionally he shivered when water trickled down his neck. Other than that, it was blissfully quiet.

Once she had given his hair a good cleaning, she slid the cloth down to his neck and shoulders. Using chakra to enhance his relaxation would have been nice, but she knew that she should save it. Still, she didn't need chakra to relieve some of his muscle tension, so she pressed her fingers into tight coils of muscle, ironing out the tension. He groaned, melting under her touch. Sakura was very, _very_ glad that he could not see the faint blush dusting her cheeks.

_He's just a patient, Sakura,_ she reminded herself. _You've helped out a hundred naked men before. This one is no different!_

Taking the bar of soap again, she scrubbed the grit off his shoulders and upper back. His faded ANBU tattoo curled angrily on the curve of his shoulder, a faint echo from his dangerous past.

"This soap that ROOT gave us is actually pretty decent quality," she commented.

"They're used to cleaning things up."

Sakura gave a wry smile. "All joking aside, it actually makes a lot of sense for ROOT to be so helpful with hygiene. It would cause a big problem for them if they let disease proliferate."

All of the humidity had dampened Kakashi's bandages, and they were starting to chafe at the top where the water fell from his neck. She frowned. They would have to be removed; the area under them had only been crudely sanitized between re-wrappings.

"I'm going to take your bandages off now," she told him.

He nodded. "Okay."

She reached around him and started unwinding the bandages. It was a little tough from behind. She had to keep weaving around, pulling away when unwinding in the back but pressing close when reaching in the front. He remained perfectly still, holding his arms up to give her easier access.

Sakura felt so strangely calm. She realized that it felt so intimate that Kakashi was trusting her so much. It made her happy; they had been through so much together, and she had always given him her complete trust. It felt good to have that reciprocated, to be someone on whom Kakashi could rely. She was reminded of her first Chuunin Exam.

Bruised and scraped, she had clutched at Sasuke's hand while he writhed with the pain of the newly acquired curse mark. Her own body had been shaking with sobs, the dizzying height of the forest canopy spinning nauseatingly above her head as her panic fragmented reality.

Sakura could clearly remember how the indecision and fear had teared mercilessly at her insides. She had felt so helpless without the boys awake to watch her back. It had also been a nasty shock to see Sasuke, bastion of strength, reduced to a feverish wreck.

Gathering some resolve, she had hopped from the branch and carried Sasuke down. She had laid him on the ground before hurriedly scaling Naruto's tree. She could remember that it had taken meticulous control of her chakra to stay rooted to the trunk while removing the kunai and catching Naruto when he slumped down.  
_  
_She could still feel the frayed cloth she had taken out of her pouch, wetting it and laying it across Sasuke's forehead. His fever had scared her, and her hands had shaken violently as she applied the washcloth. It felt strangely similar to how she was now washing Kakashi-sensei's back; even back then, when she had felt practically useless, she was always trying to help her teammates.

Soon, Orochimaru's three cronies had attacked, demanding that she hand over Sasuke. She had vehemently rejected, refusing to allow them to take him. Back then, her bravado had had little to back it up. Still, even then she had showed unwavering support for her teammates.  
_  
_Unfortunately, they had easily discovered the booby traps she had laid. Sakura's neck had burned with shame. Of course, just when she had really thought she was helping, her strategy had been rendered ineffective so easily.

At that point, Lee had barreled in, coming to her rescue. He had fought Orochimaru's followers while Sakura could only sit back and watch helplessly. Lee gave everything to protect her, even using his most dangerous move to keep her safe. However, the battle soon started favoring the opposition, and Lee was taking a critical hit from Dosu when Sakura finally gathered the strength to reenter the battle.

_Dosu stood menacingly over Lee's fallen form. "Now for the coup de grace!"_

_"I don't think so!" Sakura jumped to her feet and started running towards him, multiple kunai held between her fingers. She released three of them in a strong swing of the arm, but Dosu blocked them easily with the armor on his arm._

_"Oh... my..." he remarked quietly, seemingly amused by her efforts._

_Still shaking, Sakura did not relent. She released several shuriken, but Zaku jumped in the way and shot them away with a wall of air. Sakura held her arms up to guard herself from the powerful gust. In her distraction, she failed to notice Kin, the female of the group, fisting her hair from behind. Sakura cried out in pain as Kin pulled her back so that her rear end fell hard on the ground._

_Kin smirked down at her in condescension. "Lovely hair... so much more bounce and shine than mine has! What ninja technique is that— the art of deep conditioning?" She yanked angrily, forcing Sakura to bow her head forward. "You're a disgrace to all shinobi... fussing with your looks when you should concentrate on your training!"_

_Her smile had vanished as she turned to her teammates. "Zaku... why don't you finish off Sasuke or one of her other fallen heartthrobs right in front of this lovesick little pig? The least we can do is entertain her!"_  
_  
Zaku laughed in agreement. "Good one!"_

_Kin tugged on her hair again. "Hold still!"_

No! They wouldn't! _Sakura thought, panic racing through her. She dug her fingernails into the dirt ground. _I can't summon any strength...

_Tears fell into her lap. _I can't... I'm just a burden to them... just someone they have to protect! I'm always in the way... never helping. Darn it! I thought this time it would be different! This time... _Her fingers curled into a fist. _I need to help the people I care about!

_Eyes alight with bloodlust, Zaku gave her a crooked smile. "All right. Let's do it." He began to approach the secluded spot where Naruto and Sasuke lay._

_Screwing her eyes shut, Sakura pulled out another kunai. Kin was unimpressed. "Your tricks are useless against me, little girl."_

_Sakura smirked at Kin over her shoulder. "You think so?" And in one fluid movement, she sliced off the chunk of her hair, severing herself from Kin's grip. As the pink strands swayed back in forth in the air, Sakura was flooded with images from her time with Team 7._ I'd always thought of myself as a full-fledged ninja... proud to be an equal as I trailed after my teammates, crushing on Sasuke and scolding Naruto... watching them safely, from the background, while they would risk anything to protect me._ She stood, letting her headband fall to the ground. _Lee says he likes me, too... and he risked his life to come between me and danger. You're all my teachers... and you've shown me what I want to be. Like you. All of you. Now it's your turn to watch my back!

_Filled with a new resolve and purpose, she turned to face her adversaries._

Sakura's heart swelled with pride at the thought that she was finally living up to that promise. Here she was, healing the sensei whose status had once been so unattainable. She still had a long way to go until she was on Kakashi's level, but the fact that he was relying on her here and trusting her enough to help him through this was very gratifying.

The silence was comfortable as she worked at his back, making sure to be careful. He was still healing, which was easy to forget when he was out there taking charge. She looked at the back of his head and wondered what he was thinking about. They had been quiet for a long time while she reflected on her personal growth, but what thoughts occupied Kakashi's head? His thoughts used to be so much of a mystery, and they still were, but she thought that little by little, she was coming to understand him better.

"Have you had a chance for a bath?" he asked her.

"Well, I've washed off a little, but nothing like this..." She smiled. "This is a nice little system they've worked out."

"Hmm... you should get Ino to give you one."

Sakura laughed. "Are you kidding? Ino would spend the whole time talking about my huge forehead."

"You deserve it, you know."

Her ministrations abruptly stopped. "What?"

He hastened to clarify. "Ah, no, I mean a proper bath, not to be criticized... Ino owes it to you, you've been helping out so much."

Sakura let out another little laugh. He was always funny when he was flustered. She pulled the washcloth away, dipping it in the water again.

"I'll let you do your legs on own, but first I want to do your chest," she told him.

"Okay," he said.

She pouted out her lower lip as she often did when she was thinking, considering how to best go about doing this. "Okay," she said to herself. Moving around him, she kicked off her sandals and stepped into the pool. The warm water felt good on her tired legs. She crouched down slightly to his side; he moved his good leg out of the way to accommodate her.

She reached for his chest at an angle, first wetting it with the washcloth and then scrubbing it with the bar of soap. Kakashi kept his eye closed. At one point she could feel his heart beating beneath the scars on his chest. It was even harder to fight down a blush this time, but she didn't want to make him feel any more uncomfortable than he probably already did.

Finally, after she had wiped the suds from his chest, she settled back onto the balls of her feet to appraise his face. Lack of shaving had allowed unruly gray stubble to grow on the lower half of it. Even though she had initially hesitated at removing his mask (a million years ago when she brought him to the Cave), she was getting accustomed to it now. His mask had been discarded with the rest of his torn, bloody clothing. Its absence made him more human to her, but it also made her feel like she knew him less than she had always imagined. All these years, she had only known a person filtered through a thin piece of cotton cloth, but now she was getting to know a very different Kakashi-sensei.

She touched her hand to the slope of his cheekbone, most of which was wrapped with a bandage. She carefully began to remove it, pushing herself up to rest precariously on her toes so as to reach behind his head. This time, she felt him tense.

"Relax, Kakashi-sensei," she breathed.

Kakashi loosened a little, and she pulled away the last edge of the bandage. Her breath caught a little in her throat as the heavily scarred socket came into view.

She moved back, still squatting and careful not to get too much of her skirt wet; it was the only one she had. Kakashi's eye was still closed. She held up the washcloth and offered, "You can do it, if you like."

He sighed. "Okay," he said, his voice dull.

Noticing his listlessness, Sakura hurried to amend. "But if you're not comfortable, I can—"

Kakashi opened his eye and gave her a small, half-lidded smile. "I have to do my legs anyway," he said. "Why don't you go wait outside? Maybe some of the steam will help dry you off a bit."

Still a little reluctant, Sakura nonetheless rose from the pool. Stepping out, she slid her sandals back on. Her feet squelched against them as she left.

The steam coming from down the hall where the boy was probably heating another bath _did _help dry her off. Being in the poll had gotten her a little damp, and her fingers were wrinkled like prunes. She let her mind wander into fanciful daydreams, and before she knew it, she had drifted off.

Suddenly, there was a cry from inside. Immediately Sakura woke and bolted inside the room.

Kakashi was lying on the ground, his face pressed into the dirt. One of his feet was hooked on the edge of the pool, his heel gleaming with water. Her initial reaction was to blush at his nakedness, but even in her grogginess she quickly came to her senses and hurried to his side.

She knelt down next to him, the hard dirt floor uncomfortable against her scraped knees. She ignored the stinging and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she demanded.

He groaned and turned his head to the side. The scarred lid hung limply over the empty socket. "I was trying to get up myself," he croaked.

"What were you thinking?" she scolded. "You're exhausted and still recovering." She grabbed hold of his arm and hoisted him up. He had to brace himself against the wall, pressing his arm against it for support.

Once he was upright, she asked, "Can I let go?"

"Yeah."

She removed her hand and grabbed a towel from the pile of cloth in the corner. Pink faced, she handed it to Kakashi without looking at him. "Here, you can cover up with this while I get that boy. And don't do anything like that again! You scared me."

He secured the towel around his waist, and she left again, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was all right. He had the grubby towel wrapped around his middle, and he was leaning heavily on the wall, stiffly favoring one leg. He grimaced at her.

She went down the hall, fanning away the steam in vain. Wishing she could remember the boy's name, she called out vaguely, "Hello?"

Within a few moments the boy had bounded out from a room to her left.

"Yes?" he said breathlessly.

"You should go in there and help Kakashi-san," Sakura instructed. She didn't want to use too familiar terms because it would have felt almost like bragging. This boy's respect for Kakashi was clear.

He agreed right away and went to help Kakashi, adding that he would even give him fresh bandages: He had already memorized where they had been before. Sakura occupied herself by studying the clods of dirt in the wall until the boy called her. She intercepted them at the door; Kakashi had just been slipping the manila folder under his arm. Sakura noticed with amusement that the red mask had been tied back on.

The boy handed Kakashi off to Sakura. He waved good-bye enthusiastically as Sakura led them away.

She smiled. "He was nice," she remarked.

"Yeah," Kakashi said, smiling too. "I think he was in love with both of us." Sakura giggled.

They came to the same fork in the road as earlier, passing Tobitake-san who inclined his head at them. Following her feet without even thinking, Sakura was startled when Kakashi said, "Wait, you don't turn that way."

Sakura stopped and looked around. "Oh." A wave of fatigue crept up on her. "Wih way ih ih?" she yawned.

"What?"

Wiping the small tears that had been pushed forward by the power of her yawn, she repeated her question with improved annunciation: "Which way is it?"

Kakashi blinked and pointed down a path slightly to their left. "You were going towards the Mess Hall."

Sakura thought a moment before saying, "Oh, you're right!" She corrected their path, glancing at Kakashi as she did so. There was an unmistakable look of pride on his face.

They navigated through the narrow halls until they came to the familiar medical wing.

"Oh, someone numbered the rooms!" Kakashi exclaimed. His voice was still very hoarse.

Sakura grinned. "Yeah, that was me!"

Kakashi smiled at her. In his eye, she saw a mix of surprise and pride. "Good job, that helps a lot."

They got to his room, and Sakura helped him into bed. As she propped his crutch up against the wall, she asked, "So you, are you relaxed now?"

"Yes," he answered with a soft smile in his voice. "Thank you very much, Sakura."

She noticed that there were several cups balanced on top of one of the machines. There were even proper straws poking through the tops, complete with a little ribbed section for optimal shape. She took one and handed it to Kakashi.

He sighed and tugged his mask out of the way to sip hungrily through the straw. Sakura couldn't imagine that it tasted very good, but he didn't make a face.

She took her usual seat, slumping into the familiar metal shape. When he finished, she took the cup from him and set it on the ground. Kakashi shifted a little in the bed. Sakura wished that she could make him more comfortable, but there was nothing more she could do.

"Well, another day down," she sighed.

Kakashi was staring blankly at the ceiling. At first she worried that he was meditating on unpleasant things again, but then he said dryly, "ROOT may be some of the most efficient and disciplined shinobi, but I can't say much for their interior decorating."

Sakura laughed. "I'll be sure to put in a word with the manager."

Kakashi chuckled. "If you can find him," he said quietly.

Sakura stretched her arms high up above her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she strained her worn muscles. Fuzzy white dots filled her vision, and when she brought her arms down again vertigo swept over her. She fell back further into the cold metal back of the stiff chair. In all the time she had spent in this room, she had yet to find a truly comfortable position. Somehow it hadn't really mattered.

"Well, Sai said he'd look into all of that," she said. All of the mysteries that had so captivated her over the last few days were now blurring together in her head, congealing into a messy puddle of tiring thoughts. The visit to the baths on top of the rest of the day's events had truly drained her.

Kakashi seemed to notice. Through her bleary vision she could see him squinting at her in concern. Really, he looked like a different person: a strange bearded pirate. She laughed at her own joke.

"You okay?" he inquired. "Maybe you should go get some sleep..."

Sakura eyed him squarely. "And let you stay up worrying about stuff?"

She could have sworn she caught a flash of sheepishness quickly buried beneath the machismo of false invigoration. "I'm fine. Er... I will be fine," he corrected at Sakura's sharp look of skepticism. "However... you should go to a bed. It's not really fair for me to get a bath _and _bed."

Her fingertips pressed into the underside of the chair while her gaze flickered to the side. "Truthfully, I'd rather stay here. I just feel..." She shrugged. "Safer."

He looked simultaneously touched and confused. It was odd to see the former on his entire face; she had seen the look in his eye before but had never connected it with the proper emotion since most of his face had usually been obscured.

"Well, suit yourself, I guess," he said. He sounded vaguely uncomfortable but did not press her further. Perhaps he saw merit in what she had said about her presence prohibiting him from letting his mind fall quietly into dark places.

Sakura slid down a little in the chair. Her head was tilted to the side as she observed her sensei. Fatigue was fogging her mind, and she wore a misty smile. "I've known you for years, but I've never really _known _you, Sensei."

Now he just looked amused. "You're tired, Sakura. Go to sleep."

She feigned crossness at his gentle order. "You ca-a-a-an't boss me around," she said through another wide yawn.

The torch in the room was dying, and the fading flames seemed to be caressing Sakura into sleep. The hum of the machines was like a lullabye, numbing her mind with methodical strokes of meaningless sound. Her eyelashes fluttered feverishly as she struggled to keep them from falling over her eyes. She wanted to stay awake to make sure that Kakashi did not stay up. However, as she inevitably succumbed to sleep, she was pretty sure she could hear gentle snoring.


End file.
